The Deep
by kelevra94
Summary: O Kos, mother of the cosm. Guard us in sleep, for our souls are pure and restless. O Flora, of the moon, of the dream. Guide your agent through fire and smoke. O Hunter, bearer of blood. May nothing remain where you leave.
1. Johannes, der Schwertschmied

Remnant.

Atlas, Mistral, Vacuo and Vale. Those are thr names of the four kingdoms that stood as survivors, rather than victors from the ashes of the war. It had been the most destructive period of the world, even though not it's first. The Kingdom of mantle had been swallowed whole in the chaos of this conflict, broken and scorched. A land of ash beneath the snow, that soon would come under the jurisdiction of Atlas. But these weren't the only nations that had ever formed on Remnant. Many had seen the light of day, only to perish and fall apart. Ground to rubble by the indiscriminate teeth of time. Surely, these late kingdoms had one or the other heroic story to tell. An inspiring legend or a dreadful tale, whispered at the fireplace, but one place shadowed all others in regard of it's history and it's downfall. One place was the home to stories so sinister and horrendous, that they had been lost to time, as people deemed them too harsh to keep being told. An island state to the north, just large enough to contain itself, with cities build in and around themselves and a fortress up in the snowcapped mountains, so massive, it threatened to dwarf most of these cities. It had been bustling with life once, with culture and power. Mighty huntsmen and huntresses as well as the most capable of scholars were said to have hailed from this strange kingdom, before it had been lost, long before the others had risen to even a semblance of their present power.

Now the cities stood in ruins. Fires had ravaged them hundreds of years ago. The cathedrals, some of the few buildings strong enough to have withstood the flames, as well as the test of time. The fortress in the mountains still stood tall, but the winds and the snow chipped away at it's walls. An enemy that no one could combat. No one lived in this kingdom and those who cared to delve into it's history, found strange records which told of how humanity had vanished from this place, even before the last being had died of some circumstance. The recounts were entirely cryptic like that, but they all told of a tragedy that had befallen the kingdom.

Now the streets and courtyards were empty, safe for the skeletons that were scattered and suggested an end of violent struggle. The windows were shattered, the doors blown from it's hinges and every explorer from the new world, who was brave enough to venture there, soon left with a cold sweat and a haunting feeling, just outside of their comprehension. Some anthropologists or curious soul had looked into the traces of this once prosperous and powerful state. They all found that the trail ended with a human. A single man. One who was depicted in texts and crude drawings. He, who stood tall in the night of the kingdom's end.

The headmaster of Beacon academy sat at his desk with a cup of coffee and scrolled through a compilation of photographs, translated texts and drawn renditions. It was one of his past times, to enrich himself with knowledge of all kinds, if the administration of his school left him any free time. Such a rare occasion was now and the man had chosen a new topic to broaden his wisdom with. One of the greater mysteries of Remnant, right after 'were do the Grimm come from?' and 'how does the headmaster keep his coffee hot at all times?'.

What happened to the kingdom of Yharnam?

/

 _To whom it may concern,_

 _i write these lines in possession of my remaining faculties, but dread to admit that they aren't the same as they used to be. I have come to realise the tragic circumstances that my state of mind is not entirely too different from those who have crossed my path during my stay in this twisted land. To a degree I'm afraid, that I cannot even fully disclose my own history, much less my person from before I have arrived here. Yet I feel lucky to be certain that my thoughts seemed coherent for most of my time here, lest I might haven't made to see it to it's end. My fears to be suffering from some kind of dementia have still not been subdued and I still might succumb to the wretched illness that befell everything else here, but until now I have persevered._

 _I fret I can't tell more of my own state and origin and a retell of Yharnam's youngest history might take more than just a humble letter of my part. Also I am certain that others than me, preferably in their right state of mind, will be better suited for such a venture, though I am concerned that not everything that has transpired here, is suited for publication lest one risks to repeat the mistakes of the past. As my certainty is steadfast that one day some might stumble upon the remains of this kingdom by chance, I find it the preferable option to inform, at least partial of the existence of dangers that lie in delving into things better left alone. As implicated in itself, I will not disclose on any of these facilities in detail or in any further matter, but be warned. The kingdom didn't burn itself to the ground, nor lie the remains of beasts within on coincidence. And while the older districts of Yharnam have been incinerated before my arrival, any flame after that has been inflicted by the torch in my hand._

 _Dear reader and I pray you see reason in my argument. Refrain from pursuing behind the borders of this isle, you shall only find demise and bring it onto others. I am weakened now. My last encounter with the powers behind all this has left me changed and even now, after I have allowed myself a considerable amount of time, just writing this letter is putting a severe strain on my nervous and bodily capacities. However, as much as I hope my warnings go noticed and respected, I shall issue my advice here, at the end._

 _Fear the old blood._

/

The letter was dated almost three hundred years in the past and plausibility analysis seemed to strengthen this claim. Ozpin finished reading the document and put down the scroll. As headmaster to one of the most prestigious academies in the world of Remnant, he had access to resources and faculties that allowed him to study materials normally held under tight restriction and as one familiar with certain... supernatural phenomena, he was a man to be trusted to handle such information with care. Yharnam was an anomaly in Remnant's history that only he and a handful of other had any semblance of confirmed knowledge of. To the vast majority of the population, the City of Pyres was nothing more than a dark tale, used to scare children into bed and behaviour.

It was no coincidence however that he, now of all times showed increased interest in the matter. Strange dreams had haunted his night's sleep in the last few weeks. Dreams of open waters that stretched unfathomable distances in all directions, strange noises that assaulted his senses and most frighteningly, the feeling that wherever he went in those dreams, he was being followed by something. The feeling was off putting and incomprehensible for him, but he remembered having felt that way already. Some long time ago, maybe in another life. Maybe when he and a few of his friends at the time had decided to venture past the barren shores of Yharnam.

/

Cinder fall liked to think of herself as a dangerous woman. All of her achievements and abilities suggested such. Without a doubt, she was cunning, strong and confident. Her will was what drove her, her will was what had brought her here.

Behind her, her two companions, Emerald and Mercury were bickering again. They always did that and normally it didn't bother Cinder, as it broke up the tedium of their work and allowed a bit of a lighthearted atmosphere to spread while they were out, doing what was needed to achieve her goal. But today, here, it got on her nerves.

"Be quiet!" She commanded and, even though accompanied with a queer look from both, the two fell silent, and into step behind her.

Their way had been long and even though less arduous than expected, all three were beginning to feel increasingly tired. Camping out in the open took it's toll over time, even though the Grimm attacks they had expected were almost nonexistent. A straggling specimen here and there and even then, these few were often malnourished , wounded and weak. Someone or something was keeping the black tide from taking a foothold in these lands and Cinder feared she knew what it was.

Ozpin, the headmaster of the irritating little school in Vale, was said to be one of the most powerful men on Remnant as a whole, but everyone who had a fable for history and mysticism knew that under the surface of the oceans, deep in the earth and out in the cosmos, much older, much more powerful things could lie in wait, or slumber in peaceful ignorance. One of those things seemed to hide in these lands, away from humanities scrutinising gaze, from faunuskind's curious glances and out of reach of the Black Queen. Away from everything and everyone.

Their path had led them out of the rocky planes in the south of Mistral and back into the forests of conifers that rimmed it's shores. The silence that reigned in these parts was eerie, unnerving. It was an unnatural calm that seemed to choke the life out of anything that dared to make a thought. Animals were rare to come across but when they were, were weirdly curious and fearless. Even closing in on the small group to be petted or fed little portions of their rations. Then again, on occasions, they had stumbled into rather unnerving sceneries, such as a graveyard with headstones as tall as ten meters and as thick as two. Or a large clearing that was entirely filled with ashes and what appeared to be two large, hexagonal obelisks that jutted out of rhe ground to even greater hights than the headstones. All of them appeared to be made out of a partially translucent, smooth stone, almost like marble, but impossibly black in colour. Where tge light was unable to shine through them, it just seemed to be swallowed without a reflection that such a perfect surface would have needed to provide would one follow common logic. The obelisks had been barren, safe for a deep ridge that ran along each of their six sides and from the bottom to the top, but the headstones, Cinder remembered, were covered in a variety of sharp and angular hieroglyphs that she couldn't remember of ever having seen before. But somehow they seemed... wrong, appalling.

The peculiar mixture of peace and a foreboding feeling of immediate danger was confusing for the mind. Only having been through their fair share of bloodshed kept them from losing their calm during their descent into the woods.

The small expedition came upon a track, trampled through the underbrush. They had been in the forest for almost three days now, cutting through the unmapped wilderness with their weapons. They had been guarded of course. No one really knew what lurked in these remote areas, so the possibility of stumbling upon a giant Deathstalker or a sizeable pack of Beowulfs was definitely real. Now, with the narrow trail they had found in the middle of nowhere, their spirits lifted, expressing itself mostly through Emerald and Mercury picking up their conversations again. Not Cinder though. Her gut told her that they weren't out of the woods yet, figuratively as well as literally.

The sound of crashing waves reached her ears, indicating that Mistrals shores were nearby. Fitting, she thought, that her destination was near to the depths of Remnant's oceans. Open waters were a bulwark, guarding sleep, as she had read. All this infernal literature that she had devoured, just to get a vague idea of what she was looking for. Well, what her superiors were looking for. And now the phrases and sentences kept popping up. History books, marine records, confidential eye witness reports and interviews with patients of insane asylums all over Remnant. Had she been a lesser woman, she would have dismissed all those as myths and ramblings of the insane, but with what she knew, _for certain_ , she was able to connect the dots. Find the similarities and use them to further her agenda.

The path widened and the noise of the ocean grew louder. Left and right from the track, white flowers bloomed, even though the season should have prevented tthem from doing so. A slight smell lingered in the air. It was sweet and subtle, but it was present everywhere, even seemed to stick to their clothes in an instant.

"Weapons away. But keep them loaded." Cinder commanded as the path curved sharply to the right. She threw a scrutinising look back at her two companions and saw Emerald holstering her weapons. Mercury only shrugged, and smiled. It was alright. Wouldn't be practical to have him take off his lower legs anyway. Putting on a face of satisfaction, Cinder turned back towards the path and steeled herself for what was to come.

/

"Maria, my dear, come inside please." The voice was deep amd raspy, but soft when it spoke to the young woman tending to the Lumen Flowers in front of the small house. She perked up, her platinum hair swaying lightly in the slight breeze that made her pull her coat closer to her body. She stepped through the door and hung it to the hook nest to tye entrance.

"What is it?" She asked, looking up to the tall man who waited for her in the short hallway. Standing together, they looked like polar opposites from each other. Where her hair was light and hung down her back to her hips, his was dark, kept short and hidden beneath his hat. While she wore a white dress with a subtle floral design embroidered, he was garbed in a heavy, dark coat. The collar turned up and from a leather strap across his chest, hung a military shotgun.

Her lively green eyes met his icy blues. "It's probably nothing, but you know how I like to be sure."

"Yes, I know." She smiled up at him. He seemed to be no older than thirty, but his eyes conferred an incomprehensible age. She knew that he had seen much, but every time she asked, he avoided the question and steered their conversation towards other matters.

He stepped past her and sent her a smile that she couldn't help but feel was a weary one, before he pulled the gun behind his back and closed the door.

/

Cinder looked around. The small garden before the house seemed much too peaceful for the feeling she had in her stomach. Letting her eyes dart all over tge space in front of her, she noticed a watering pot standing not far from the main door. A pair of headstones stood, offset to the left, behind the house. The whole place was well kept. Just a few needles from the trees lay on the cobblestone pathways to the door and behind the building. A small pile of chopped wood was piled up next to the emtrance and an axe leaned on the wall, the blade wrapped in cloth, probably to protect it from deterioration.

"Should we take a look around?" Mercury asked from behind her. From the way he spoke, she could hear that his nerves were again as strained as hers. The feeling of wrongness had multiplied since they had laid eyes on the small home.

"No. We will wait here. Someone will show up." Or something. Even though she was wondering by now if this was even the right place. Maybe whatever she was sent to look for was beneath them. Beneath the house, in a cave or something.

She was awoken from her contemplation when she heard the door creak and her eyes shot upward at the door. She could catch a small glimpse inside and thought to have seen the shine of blonde hair disappearing just around the corner. What captured her full attention now however, was the man who had stepped out.

His dark coat swayed behind him in the wind and the lower half of his face was hidden by a scarf, a mask, or a facewrap of some sort. On his head sat a ancient looking tricorn hat, from which a portion seemed to have been ripped out from the back, giving the man an overall predatory appearance, like a wolf or a dog. Light blue eyes pierced at them from beneath the hat as she felt him evaluating all three of them. She had to admit, the intensity of his presence, rivaled that of the Black Queen. She glanced at the others. They too stood still like statues, waiting for anyone to make the first move. Then he spoke.

"Greetings. I am Johannes. Who might you be?"

The voice was soft, yet somehow it reverberated in Cinder's body. It seemed as if it didn't come _from_ the man as much as it came from _within her_.

"I am Cinder Fall and these-" She gestured at the other two. "- are my two companions Mercury and Emerald. We have come a long way to see you."

"To see me? Not many people come here these days, except for the mailman. What do you need?"

Now was the time. This was the moment. The Black Queen, Salem had sent her here, but could she take the chances? Who would protect her if she did? He? Who would he have to be to stop her?

She noticed that she had begun sweating. Her nerves threatened to give up on her. Could she do it?

"Salem sent us. To lead you into a trap." She finally said and visibly recoiled as Johannes' eyes snapped at her, boring into her skull.

"Cinder..." Emerald almost whimpered behind her. The airpressure of their surrounding seemed to bear down heavy on them.

"She aims to awaken something... something not from this world. Please, believe me!"

He still stared at her and the temperature around her seemed to drop procedurally. The he did something unexpected.

He smiled.

"It takes a lot of strength, I suppose." He said, some sick amusement in his tone. Turning around he opened the door and stood beside it.

"Why don't you come inside. Let's say hello to Maria."

"Are you...?" Cinders voice capitulated as he turned back around. Something about him seemed off. A primal force that seemed to surround him.

"I am Johannes my dear and I have shouldered some titles." A dangling, upside down rune was carefully engraved into the frame of the shotgun, hanging from a strap over his chest. She recognised it.

"But to most I've been known as the Good Hunter."


	2. Die tiefe See

_A.N.:Now this story has stirred a bit more attention a bit faster than my previous ones. I'm just going to lay down the rules of engagement real fast. If you enjoy, leave a review. If you didn't, do too. If you like where it's going, tell me. If you fear I'm going to put it against a wall, tell me too. I'd like this one to be a good story. Tell me what you'd like to see. I'm always looking for ideas. Here's the second chapter._

Ozpin did not remember being truly young so much. As long as he had wandered this world, the things he had seen, the beauty, the horrors, not many things were able to raise his interest past a certain threshold. It was the curse of great knowledge, he thought, that the small things in life seemed to lose their charm. An exception of this, were his students. He suspected he would never run out of surprises as long as he would run this academy. The whole student body, team RWBY ahead were a melting pot of ideas, wishes, desires and impulses that it was impossible to even plan a day ahead without expecting the unexpected.

Today however, the headmistress, Glynda Goodwitch, in her unending wisdom had expelled him, the headmaster from his own office. The many long nights he had sat at his desk, preparing for the Vytal festival, planning his moves against the great enemy and evading having to explain himself to the Council had apparently taken their toll. So much that he himself had been too preoccupied with staying awake to notice that he was just barely managing just that.

So right now, with his mandatory leisure time, what was a man like him to do? He had tried catching up on sleep, but it evaded him as much as the idea of keeping himself idle for extended periods of time. Instead he had decided to continue teaching himself on the mysteries of Remnant. Yharnam was still an enigma for him. For everyone and he had hit a wall trying to form any connections between the large quantity of materials he had sifted through. So he concentrated his efforts on another urban legend that had found it's way to his ears. The southern planes of Mistral.

According to some traveling merchants, many hobby-explorers and a few huntsmen and huntresses, the area along the southwestern shore of Mistral was almost entirely free of creatures of Grimm. Sure they were present, but spread so thin that they didn't pose a major threat to even the most uneducated individual with a gun. The tale had persisted for some time now and so, had found it's way to some of the more well versed participants on the social media platforms. Some, whom he even knew as decorated experts in the fields had voiced theories that the lack of Grimm was the result of an unprecedented power struggle between the usual population and a single or a small group of particularly powerful specimens, but almost everyone was careful to mention that theories were still just theories.

To Ozpin it was still to early to draw any conclusions. A lack of Grimm in an unpopulated area was strange, sure, but didn't warrant any baseless speculations. Adding to this that he had seen much less probable things in his life, it was not too exceptional compared to let's say: the Maidens, Salem, or even the Grimm themselves.

A forum in particular seemed promising enough. An agent and his assistants from Atlas, contracted by a wealthy Atlesian businessman had pursued a lead to a peculiar patch of land in the relevant region and had been as surprised by the comparable safety as everyone else. He however had come into contact with another human being or as he claimed, something disguised as a human.

His explanations counted down events of uncanny nature. A night he had been forced to set up his camp in a large clearing in the middle of a heavily wooded area. During the night he had been woken by a particularly stressful nightmare and had left his tent to refresh himself at the nearby stream. There, the man he said to emanate an unnatural presence had waited for him, sitting on a stone and had issued his first warning to him.

He said that a terrible power lay hidden beyond the shores of these lands and that pursuing his cause, which he apparently had possessed intimate knowledge of, would inevitably lead to his and his colleague's demise. Naturally the agent, a grounded man with no particular religious or superstitions tendencies, had been putting the whole thing off as a strategy devised by the competition to scare him off and carried on regardless.

A few days into their venture, all members of his group were being haunted by bizarre nightmares, all revolving around weird and mostly indiscernible shapes emerging from the ocean, many smaller ones, some of large size, maybe thirty to fifty meters in height, but to the terror off all of them, even these were overshadowed by a gigantic, more detailed silhouette. Impossibly high, the shoulders and head almost entirely disguised by the dark clouds, a towering creature had been in all of their dreams.

It didn't possess any legs, according to them, instead slowly but steadily moving forward using its many arms, which bent in numerous directions through a disgustingly large number of joints. The shoulders seemed to serve no real purpose as most of these arms were attached to the terribly malformed humanoid torso and the head that sat atop the behemoth was featureless and static, almost as if it was fixed upon the body like a hat. Then, the creature emitted a terrible sound. A blaring like from a horn, but too powerful and violent to be properly compared to a musical instrument. It shook their surroundings and reverberated in their bones and then-

-then they woke up. All of them at the same time.

It was then that the agent decided that his client could not possibly want to acquire a piece of land where he would be haunted by terrible dreams each night and retreated hastily.

Out of curiosity, Ozpin ran a few light backround checks on the agent and his group. All five of them were said to be reliable and confidential enough. Also there were no signs of latent psychological illnesses or drug abuse. Maybe the southwest of Mistral had unexplored reserves of natural gasses that seeped to the surface and caused hallucinations? Then however, all five of them had apparently experienced the exact same thing. Extremely unlikely for a bad trip. And what was with the man? The area showed only a single, lonely adress, near the shore registered with the postal service. No street name, just a set of coordinates and a description of how to reach it.

More information wasn't to be gained. No one in the region's postal service had ever stepped forward or made any blunders regarding confidentiality. Not that he actively seeked such things, but others had already tried and failed to dig up this information. Maybe, if he had the time...

Cinder was still struggling with her composure. The house was nice. Wooden wainscoting in a homely dark tone covered the walls where no bookshelfs lined them. Those shelfs, she noticed were numerous and filled to the brim with thick tomes, that bore titles of peculiar nature or in languages she was unable to discern. Some were covered in the runes they had found on the obelisks and headstones they had found in the woods. A fact that only furthered her uneasiness.

It wasn't typical for Cinder Fall to feel this vulnerable. Normally, she was the one in charge, the one to be feared, but here, in the figurative lion's den, she was haunted by the inquisitive stare that Johannes The Hunter threw her way and no less for some reason, by the lighthearted attitude that the platinum blonde girl exhibited.

Johannes had introduced all three of them to the happily smiling young woman and Cinder was unable not to notice how much the two seemed to contrast. Apparently her name was Maria and she had lived here for as long as she remembered. Emeralds rather passive aggressive question if she was Johannes' lover were quickly and with much blushing negated by her. He also wasn't her father, he told them, well... not her biological father at least. He had raised her and cared for her, but he would not disclose the circumstances under which he had met her. Cinder knew better than to pry into the life of a man who radiated such wrongness.

Maria however seemed to feel comfortable around him. It was a bond of trust, she suspected, since her affection for the man seemed so genuine.

"Coffee or tea?" Maria's voice chimed from the small kitchen adjacent to the living room in which they were seated. All three had noticed a strange accent on the girl. Somehow Cinder thought she sounded eastern, but in the east, past Vale there was only vast endless ocean.

"Tea. Thanks a lot."

"Me too." Emerald said and nodded thanks. Mercury chose coffee and thanked Maria with a smile. Shortly after, she came out of the kitchen, a tray in her slender hands, carrying five cups. Three filled with tea and two with coffee.

"You want to take milk with it. The coffee Maria brews tends to be quite strong." Johannes said with a nod towards Mercury, while taking a sip of the steaming beverage.

Mercury smiled. The boy had endure much pain in his former life. Surely a stiff cup of coffee wouldnt hurt him. Confident in himself he raised the porcelain vessel to his lips and immediately recoiled sharply, struggling to keep the cup upright and not spill anything on the floor.

"It also tends to be quite hot when it's fresh." Johannes added, slightly chuckling as Mercury rubbed away the pain in his burnt lips and Maria failed to suppress a melodic laughter. Suddenly, the atmosphere seemed to lighten. The little bit of slapstick humour doing wonders in raising morale in the three travelers, even though it was at the cost of their male companion.

"Maria. Be a dear and bring A glass of cold water for Mr. Black here."

"Sure!" She answered enthusiastically and hurried off. Cinder saw this as her queue and cleared her throat, but Johannes raised his hand.

"Let us discuss when she is back."

"Are you sure she needs to hear these things? Surely you know that this is not to be taken lightly."

He just nodded, patiently waiting for the girl to come back. "If we are to depart, she will come with me. I would have to lock her into a block of steel to keep her here while I am gone. And while I concur that a lot of times ignorance is safer than knowledge, being unprepared is much more dangerous."

"She will come with us?"

"She will go where I go. It does not matter terribly much. If we fail, nowhere will be safe."

Cinder heard Emerald swallow loudly beside her. They knew what Salem planned was bad, but to hear it from the man made it seem much worse immediately. Even the return of Maria with a glass of cold water didn't raise the atmosphere too much.

"So what is going on?" She asked, the same innocent smile on her face as before.

Johannes put a hand on her arm and looked her in the eyes.

"There will be a hunt." He said calmly, her expression suddenly hardening. She nodded.

/

@U332, this is C.G.S. Lumen, do you copy?

@Lumen this is 332, we read you. What do you got?

@332, be advised, there seems to be a large aquatic Grimm coming towards you on your 45.

@Lumen, we're not picking up anything. Your feelers alright?

@332, weve already diagnosed our sensor suite. There is definitely something big coming towards you. 1.6k and closing in.

@Lumen, there's nothing. Is this a prank?

@332, be advised, unknown object is 1.2k and coming closer. Object is either a large swarm or at least 600m in diameter.

@Lumen, be advised that this is a confidential channel reserved for military and coast guard vessels only. Please refrain from abusing this frequency for any reason.

@332, for fucks sake, look at your close range echo or something! This is not a joke! Object is large and within 1k m of your position!!!

@Lumen, we aren't picking up anything. We

@332?

 _SOS_

 _This is an automated emergency message, issued by [Atlesian Submarine MiCar U332]. If you are receiving this message please forward it to EOPS and any emergency recovery service available._

 _SOS_

 _opsissued:run/auto/chatforwardedto:allclearance4/submittedby:OPSjamdi_

 _opsissued:notificationlvl9:allclearance4/submittedby:OPSjamdi_

/

"General, sir?" Winter Schnee asked. She tried to straighten her hair a bit, but it was of no use. Being woken up at 2 A.M. did things to people. Things she was powerless to correct right now. General James Ironwood didn't seem to be much better off. His eyes were cast on a map of the atlesian sea and his expression was one of hard worry and a bit of stress, but only because people who had experienced as much as him were rare.

"Specialist Schnee. Good that you're here. We have a delicate situation on our hands?" He stepped aside and allowed her full view of the map, where numerous holographic markers symbolised ships and aircraft.

"Exactly twenty seven minutes ago, a coastguard ship has issued a level nine alarm notification regarding the submarine missile carrier U332. According to the log, somethisomething massive had been approaching the ship before it vanished."

"Vanished sir?"

"Yes. It's gone. No ship, no wreck, no crewmen. The A.A.S. Hammer is present and is scanning the whole area, but so far, nothing. But that's not the weirdest thing." She nodded to signal her attention.

"Of course the echologs are documented and coherent to the report, show a humongous unknown element approaching U332, but as well as U332, in the exact moment of the ships dissappearance, it too just vanished."

"Maybe the crew of the U332 detonated the warheads as a last resort and destroyed the object." She knew she was speculating, but no other scenario came to her mind.

"Maybe, but unlikely." Ironwood leaned again on the map. "We would have found debris, large aqua dynamic readings from the coast, anything. But even though U332 was a huge ship, there didn't seem to be even any water displacement upon it's dissappearance. not even mentioning the unknown object, which was easily thrice the size of the sub. It went dark and was gone. As if it had never existed."

Winter was unsure if how to respond to that. Never had she heard a story this unbelievable, but the general seldom joked, much less on such serious matters.

"Then... what could have happened?" Her tone was wavering and uncertain, even though she tried her best to keep it as stoic as usual.

"I don't know." Ironwood was faring better, but not by too much. "I will travel to Vale. I need you to meet with the A.S.S. Hammer. I want eyes and ears out there. Everything you find out, you report directly to me. Understood?"

"Perfectly sir. What am I looking for?" This was what she was used to. Orders, simple as that.

"While the loss of the U332 and her crew is tragic, their whereabouts are only our secondary concern. Whatever swept it off the map is undoubtedly dangerous and needs to be neutralised. Focus on that."

"Yessir!"

/

Cinder was still unsure what to think of Johannes. He was undoubtedly powerful, his numbing presence alone was testament to that. Beyond that, he didn't seem taken aback by the news in the slightest. He had patiently listened to her explanations and only occasionally asked questions to very specific topics. Even more unnerving was the fact that he apparently knew about Salem and her involvement on the global powerplay.

"She sent you to find an artifact?" He had asked, even though Cinder was sure he already knew the answer.

"Seven to be exact. Some are connected to the legend of the Maidens and some just seem random. We were to break into Beacon first. You know about Beacon?"

"A place of learning, as far as I know." While they talked he was ruffling through a large case in a part of his house he called his "workshop". To Cinder it seemed more like a place of occult rituals, with what seemed to be blood stored away in vials, eyes and other organs preserved in jars and carefully shelved off, vicious looking blades hanging off a wall and a small piece of cloth draped delicately over a stone altar, a spot of dry blood still visible on it. Peculiarly, the cloth seemed to radiate a power similar to what one could feel in the Hunter's presence.

"It is. It is also built over an enormous vault which is said to maybe harbor one of the Maiden's artifacts. The others should be hidden beneath Mistral's, Vacuo's and Atlas's schools, but where the remaining three are supposed to be..." She trailed off. The thought still chilled her, after all what she had learned.

"The phtenumeran bells, the chalice of Rh'elle and Madman's Knowledge." He pulled a heavily engraved double barrel shotgun from the trunk and broke it gently over his arm to inspect it's innards, before snapping it shut and attaching it to a loop on the harness that he now wore under his long coat.

"How do you know?" The raven haired girl asked with curiosity in her voice. Not that she wasn't still scared, she wasn't used to be so obviously outclassed by anyone else but her master, but ththe thirst for knowledge won over her fears. At least temporary.

"Johannes has studied these things a lot." Maria answered for him. She was sitting next to a tall doll that was propped up in a rocking chair in the back of the room. Emerald had already noticed the remarkable likeness that the object shared with the happy girl. It was uncanny seeing her next to the doll, the only obvious deviations between the two their dress up. While the doll wore a voluminous, frilly dress akin to a woman from times long past and a cap wrapped around her face, Maria now sported a blood red coat, not unlike Johannes's if not for the colour. Her head was covered with a tricorn similar in style to Johannes's as well, but undamaged and with a white feather arching upwards to hang down the back of her head. Lastly a piece of thick cloth hung from a brooch over her right shoulder, like a cape.

"The books you have seen in our house, they all are about the parts of Remnant's history that nobody should know about. I always wanted to read them, but Johannes doesn't want me to learn the languages." The hunter wandered over to her and gently placed his hand on her head.

"Ignorance of the right things is as sharp of a blade as the Rakuyo. You will know when it is time for me to teach you those cursed letters. Until then, the lack of knowledge will be your shield." A metallic clunk was heard and Maria's eyes lightened up as she looked upon the object that Johannes had presented her with.

The sword was obviously expertly made, judging from the sheath and the grip alone. A long curved blade terminated in a long, two handed grip, from which one larger crossguard protruded at the top and one smaller at the middle of the grip.

"I can?" She asked almost tentatively if it wasn't for the enthusiasm in her voice. Johannes just nodded, widening her smile even further as she took the, by comparison with her slender frame, large blade.

The hunter then turned back to the three. Cinder, Emerald and Mercury were not feeling well. Though that feeling did not originate from the space they now inhibited as much as from the thought of what Salem would do should she find out that they had turned against her. Maybe she already knew, one could never be sure with that... thing.

"I wish we may have no use for armaments such as this, but as of now, I cannot be sure where our Investigations will lead us." Again, the low voice. To Cinder it was as if the growling near-whisper came from every direction at once. Maybe even from within her. It was off putting, though not inherently unpleasant. Time would tell if she could grow accustomed to it.

"Do you know what we're up against? Salem is powerful." There was no doubt in Mercury's voice as he spoke, but a certain concern. The witch had obviously sent them after Johannes because she thought him to be a threat to her plans. How she had imagined them fighting someone so obviously powerful was still beyond him and the other two.

"I know Salem." The Hunter again retracted his hands from the trunk and revealed two menacing looking weapons. One hand held a crooked shortsword made from a black metal that seemed to shine dimly in the low light of the workshop, in the other hand was a long staff that all three at once, could identify as an enormous scythe made from a similar material. Their eyes widened once again as the weapons dematerialised in front of them, leaving nothing but a pale, evaporating mist in Johanness hands.

"She is of the impression that no one is stronger than her and that everything exists only to do her bidding. That is where she is wrong. While she is certainly powerful, her might and influence pales in comparison to the things that are hidden in Remnant's soil and waters." Numerous silvery bullets found their way into pouches on his belt.

"Thusly, my concern lies not entirely with her, but with the things you told me she would try to wake. Should she succeed, there is no telling of what might befall this world." He paused briefly. His eyes fixating a nondescript point on one of the shelves until he spoke again.

"It's been a while. You might not like where I intend to go. Who I'd like to visit."

"Where would that be?" Cinder asked, fearing the worst.

"An old friend of mine. I heard he is headmaster of a school now. Somewhere in Vale I'm sure."

"Ozpin?" She thought they would be charging directly into the depths of hell with how slow and cryptically the man was with his distribution of information. Meeting the headmaster of the school they were going to infiltrate for what was basically going to be a terrorist attack didn't seem so bad, if she wasn't sure that Johannes would make them spill every piece of information they had.

"Johannes! Can I? This time?" Again it was Maria, her joyous nature piercing the menacing shadow that the looming man casted.

"You know how inept I am at flying that godforsaken thing, so... yes, you can."


	3. Raubtier

_A.N.:_ _I was asked to translate my chapter titles, so here goes_ _in order:_

 _Preamble, Johannes the Swordsmith, The deep Sea_

 _Also, I'd like to thank everyone who has taken a bit of time to leave a review and apologise for any spelling and grammatical errors. Criticism is always welcome, even though praise and advice is naturally preferred. You might have guessed that English is not my first language. That's German._ _If anyone feels confident and motivated enough to proofread, give me a short PM._ _Also I have implemented the fancy double barrel that was suggested, but the Hunter's and Maria's arsenal will be vast and practical._

 **Raubtier - Carnivore**

Ozpin was not a man to be perplexed easily. To be perfectly honest, he hadn't even always been a man. The many lives he had lived through had taken their toll on his ability to be amazed or surprised. Still, the message that popped up on his desktop made him pause for a few moments and hold his breath. It was not the contents of said message, as he was a very fast reader, but he still had to process letters in order to connect them to any meaning, but instead it was the profile picture of the one who had sent it.

Seeing the platinum blonde again and after such a long time was good, however he still was puzzled as to how the woman managed to retain such a youthful appearance after such a long time. The photograph was what young people these days called a selfie, made from a downward angle and showed her sideways hugging a tall and very uncomfortable looking man.

Maria and Johannes. A long time had passed since he had seen both. Since Johannes had decided to withdraw himself from the politics and events of the "real" world as he had called it. The man had tried to persuade Maria to attend Beacon, to live a normal life with friends and all the conveniences Vale could offer, but she had refused. Had instead followed him into the wilderness of Mistral.

That had been almost twenty years ago. If what Johannes told Ozpin was true, Maria was in her forties by now, though she still looked no day older than nineteen. Ozpin didn't even dare to guess the Good Hunter's age. The power that the man radiated fazed Ozpin a bit less than most people, but it still had left an impression.

He settled to read the message.

 _"Hello Professor,_

 _How have you been? We are fine. On the way to Beacon right now. We'll need a landing pad in the evening. Johannes has something very important to tell you. I'm excited to see what Beacon looks now!_

 _Maria"_

It made sense for Maria to write the message instead of Johannes. The man had always been an enemy of technology of any kind as long as it wasn't related to direct combat. Had the man decided to fight in the war, he would have claimed terrible numbers.

Ozpin quickly relayed a message to the staff to clear one of the landing pads and informed Glynda of the pairs visit. The sun was starting to set, so their arrival would surely be soon. It was a strange kind of excitement that he felt while he organised their stay. A scholar like him had so much to learn from them. Maria had always had the ability to shine like a light during dark times. Ozpin always feared that this quality would shatter when she was confronted with the real world, but then again her counterpart, the Good Hunter Johannes, was what some might call the complete opposite of her.

The man always had seemed pessimistic about most things, until Ozpin realised that his gloomy attitude was not one of mistrust, sadness or even anger, but one of acceptance and calmness. If the man ever had been truly furious the headmaster couldn't even begin to imagine the damage done.

He received the clear from his staff for his request regarding the landing pad and a message from Goodwitch that she would pick the two up when they'd arrive. Her office provided a great view over the hangars and landing field, so she would know immediately when their airship would come in.

It didn't take them too long. Ozpin barely managed to finish the quarter annually report to the council which he had been working on all day, when he received a short and precise message on his scroll as it was usual for Glynda. Grabbing his cane, a cup of fresh coffee he made for the door.

He stopped shortly and gazed upon the small silver bell that sat, neatly presented in one of his shelves. It had been a gift from Johannes, many years ago. He had said to ring the bell if assistance was ever needed. It would summon him, but Ozpin knew how dangerous it could be to insert an unknown element into a combat situation without prior briefing. It had more in common with requesting an impromptu airstrike on one's own position, than summoning reinforcements.

Surprisingly, even more so for a man like the headmaster, the thought surfaced for the first time since he had received Maria's message. Why would they come here? What happened?

/

Beacon was an impressive structure in it's own right. Gothic architecture mixed seamlessly with modern influences and created a style that was unique to all of Remnant. Cinder wondered how the two were involved in the game of shadows that Salem, Ozpin and their respective little sidekicks (She noticed, a barely sullen expression on her face, that she and her company were exactly that.) played, hidden in plain sight. How did these two fit in the puzzle? If they withdrew from the powerplays of the real world, why did Salem want Johannes out of the game?

They had spoken about the thing the Black Queen wanted to utilise, but the Hunter's sentences seemed handcrafted to convey the feeling of receiving information, while he in fact only fed them scraps. It had been frustrating when she realised it and she, curious as she needed to be to stay ahead of her foes, had immediately asked further, only to receive more riddles and vague suggestions.

She had accommodated somewhat to the impression that Johannes was giving off. The malicious aura was a lot less present when she accepted it for what it was. Something she knew nothing about, but was not directed at her. So far he or his surrogate daughter had yet to express any kind of ill intent towards her. The opposite was happening actually.

"Turning away from a promise of great power for loyalty, might just take more strength than refusing to work with what is perceived as "evil" in the first place." The strange feeling that his voice invoked in her was gradually becoming more natural. More welcome. Receiving praise from the man filled her with more pride than she was ready to accept. Maybe this feeling was why Maria was so attached to the man. He might have her hooked, but then again she knew nothing about his person. Only about the things he was said to have done.

"I think it necessary to tell you of your option to leave." The Hunter sat back in his seat. The passenger bay of the Nightowl they used was a lot smaller than a Bullhead's, since the whole vehicle was sleeker and lighter.

"I don't think there is a place on Remnant where we are safe." Cinder caught Mercury's and Emerald's respective nods and Johannes threw each of them a scrutinising look. "And we will face what is to come rather sooner than later."

It was a steady voice. By now, her uneasiness around the pair was under control. Ember and Mercury felt almost the same, but Cinder surely was changed by their encounter with the enigmatic man and his excitable surrogate daughter. She was humbled apparently and she realized her transformation herself. She was still able of the alluring tone that she preferred to use when negotiating _her_ terms with whoever was hungry or foolish enough to collaborate with her. She might still feel the old sense of superiority, but after their discovery of the horror Salem wanted to make her tool, she hadn't felt the need or want to subjugate anyone she came across.

What good would it do when the texts were actually true. When all the weird cults and insane scholars were right? If these things were true than might everything they had heard and read about Johannes be the truth as well? Even if it bordered on the impossible?

The warnings they had received from Dr. Ado, Professor of history at the Lidyan university in Vale, came to her mind. They had been warned that the Professor was not in his right mind anymore, after he had returned from an expedition from the no man's lands to the north. No one knew what he and his crew had seen up there, but the sinister look on his face and the baseless ramblings that he spouted, suggested something unnerving.

"Don't follow the blood." He had muttered while giggling like a mad man. "It makes us whole, eats up our desperate... fear it! Fear it! Don't wake what lies at the bottom of the sea. In their houses of... should they ever walk again..."

His disconnected whisperings had almost made them turn around and leave. But then, suddenly, Dr. Ado's surprisingly strong hand was on her wrist, his voice crystal clear.

"The Swordsmith! Whatever arises from the waters or descends from the cosmos, it _can not_ survive the Swordsmith!"

Johannes's eyes bored into her's. The ice blue seemed to glow unnaturally in the twilight of the passenger compartment. How could anybody be sure this was a man in the first place?

"You worked with Salem. Ozpin is maybe her greatest enemy. Keep that in mind."

"We can take care of ourselves if it comes to that." She said, but quickly shut herself up as the Hunter narrowed his eyes.

She had made a mistake. She had, even though as indirect as possible threatened to fight Ozpin. Her hopes that Johannes didn't take it as such were crushed as the leather over his fist strained audibly. The fist with which he gripped the sheathed shortsword.

"Don't. Cinder Fall. Don't take this path. I have met many who opposed me. You have earned my sympathies, so don't make me your enemy."

The air around her seemed to freeze. A distant scent of saltwater filled her nostrils as she watched his silhouette contort oh so slightly. Almost ignorable, but she caught it. On any other day, in any other place, with any other man, she would have dismissed this as her eyes playing tricks on her, but not with him.

She was far from knowing him, hell she had just met him. Knowing this man without being him seemed impossible, no... she was sure it was impossible. At least for her. Whatever this... being was that sat in front of her, it invoked a primal sense in her. Something that told her, screamed at her to run. To flee and never stop. Her muscles stiffened, her eyes flicked over to Emerald on her left and suddenly...

It was gone again. Like a bad dream it washed off of her. Her breathing stabilised and she let out an involuntary sigh of relief, sinking back into her chair.

"Of course. I didn't mean to suggest-"

"Don't worry. As long as you keep your composure, a fight will be unnecessary."

He lowered his head, closing his eyes as he said that. Calmness radiating from him like, infectious and perfect. How was this even possible?

"Cinder?" Emerald whispered from her left. "We can never go back again."

It was a fact. But one that didn't scare Cinder so much anymore. It was only logical.

/

"Headmaster, your visitors are inbound." Glynda's voice sounded through the speaker of the headmaster's scroll. They would arrive within moments, the sleek, black silhouette of the Nightowl already on the horizon, contrasted by the setting sun. It reminded him of the movies about the last war as he looked out of his window. The only things missing were Atlesian classical music and dropping firedust-bombs. Such a fitting entrance for a man such as the Good Hunter.

He strolled down to the landing pads, his cane in hand (Not that he would need it.) and a fresh cup in the other.

He arrived just as the military vehicle set down on the concrete in fron of the hangars. He answered Maria's excited wave with a modest nod of his own, even though he couldn't suppress a smile. The door opened, sliding outwards and back along the chassis of the airship and revealed three unknown figures standing, then exiting the passenger bay. All of them were young, maybe as old as his third year students. One had raven hair and wore a red dress that revealed much of her right thigh, due to the slit that ran up, almost to her hip. The second one was even more barren of clothing, only wearing a pair of shorts and what seemed to be a sports bra to cover her up. Her green hair and dark skin colour contrasted remarkably though. The third was a young man, clad in grey and otherwise unremarkable clothes. His hair was grey too, but didn't seem unnatural. A lot of people on Remnant had wild hair colours, so grey didn't seem so uncommon.

"Headmaster." The voice was calm and low. The usual rasping, reverberating tone that he remembered from all those years ago. Not a day older, if primordial was a fitting description, Johannes the Swordsmith stepped from the airship, an equally preserved Maria right behind him.

"Johannes! How many times have I told you to call me Ozpin? It is good to see you. Who are your friends here?" He gestured to the unknown trio. Now that he looked at them, they seemed much too uncomfortable for the occasion to just be a courtesy visit."

"Cinder, Emerald, Mercury." He curtly answered, gesturing to each of them. "They will be coming with me. Professor Ozpin, I fear my visit is of professional nature. Can we talk inside? Perhaps with a cup of tea?"

Ozpin nodded and watched the Hunter turn back to the Nightowl and pull an enormous case from within, coffin might be a better word, shouldering it, the container surely one and a half the man's size.

He led them on, Glynda Goodwitch right at his side, suspecting gazes thrown back at the five visitors. Maria ahead, the three newcomers on the middle and the weighty clacking noise from the Hunter's boots from the back.

They entered Beacon.

/

Blake Belladonna was a girl of insecurities. She was afraid of her past, she was afraid of her past catching up to her, of the White Fang finding her, of the other students, except RWBY finding out about her heritage. She was afraid of returning the affection Sun Wukong, a fellow faunus, showed her on a daily basis, because she was afraid it might distract her from her goals.

Right now, she wasn't feeling any of this. She struggled to understand as the anxiety was normally a constantly present weight on her, hence why she often fled into the fictional worlds of her books. But right now, there was focus, calm, like soothing balm that cooled her wounds and threatened to close them.

She looked up. Surely, the gardens of beacon were marvellous in their own right. Colourful, warm during any season and peaceful at most. She had seldom noticed the latter. Too often the gardens were filled with teenage couples, hormones running wild and far too infatuated with each other to care about the peace of others. Often she had fled from a pair going on and almost at it just mere meters from her. Not that she was prudent by any means, but she still had tact.

A small group came into view. She recognised Headmaster Ozpin and Headmistress Goodwitch leading a group of five. A blonde girl was looking around enthusiastically, obviously taking in the scenery, while three others her age trotted behind, their gazes either cast to the ground or at the roofs as if looking for an ambush. And then, there was their rearguard.

It was as if all of her worries, all of her fears and anxieties were sucked away, siphoned towards this man. Black coat trailing behind him and a large container on his shoulder, he moved with purpose, only looking around slightly before their eyes met.

He stood at least thirty meters from where she was sitting and sat the case down on the ground with a heavy thump that Blake thought she felt all the way over. Her enhanced vision was able to pick up details on anyone else. Details most people weren't even aware of themselves, but this man, stood perfectly still, safe for the gentle rising of his chest with every breath taken.

The calm, it was him. He made her feel this wonderful lack of worries, this feeling of safety... like poison through her veins. She steeled herself and forced her cautious nature back to the surface. She would not succumb to such a trap. Her stare had seldom been so aggressive and she was sure he picked up on it.

But he just smiled.

Impossibly clean teeth showed and she was sure he could rend flesh and bones with them. Piercing blue eyes scrunched up in slight amusement as he bowed slightly, drawing one foot back before he turned and walked after the headmaster and the others.

Blakes book slammed shut, startling one of the infuriating couples around her as she stood up and moved.

She hadn't even passed the second corner in her pursuit when she stopped. Her senses alerted her of something behind her, slightly to the left. In a predicament she considered her options. She could keep moving, pretend that she wanted to go somewhere else anyway. She could turn around and face who was undoubtedly the man from before. The eerie and at the same time soothing presence suggested such, but in doing so she would inevitably disclose her intention of shadowing the group. Maybe she could...

"Miss Belladonna." The voice came from deep within her. Something screamed run, something wanted to listen forever.

"How do you know my name?" She turned around to face him. He stood easily two heads taller than her, his hat tucked gently under his arm.

"It's of no importance, young lady. However I would plead that you don't follow us or try to pry into our matters."

"Why?" The question was more aggressive than necessary or intended. He just smiled, baring a jaw full of sharp teeth.

"There are things humans were not supposed to know and would do better if they are kept ignorant of."

"I'm not human!" She snapped and immediately threw her hands over her mouth. So many years of hiding, of crafting an identity to live away from the Fang, threatened so easily by her fragile composure.

His smile grew even wider, now showing the full set of blades within.

"That would make two of us."


	4. Blitz

_A.N.: This is my (yet) shortest and fastest growing story yet. I want to thank everyone reading and I want to thank those extra who have taken the time to leave a comment of any sort. It's a lot of fun writing so far and I definitely want to keep going._ _Keep it up, I will too._

 _Also, now that I have a new phone (the old one had decided to kick the bucket), I will be able to write longer chapters as suggested. However, the predictive writing aid which I abused excessively before and allowed me relatively ergonomic writing, is now gone. That means I will have to learn actual english now._

 _How primitive._

"Professor, I am terribly sorry, but our reunion will have to wait. I have urgent matters to discuss." Johannes sounded genuinely apologetic as he spoke. Apparently, obviously he and the headmaster knew each other and had a lot of catching up to do.

"Of course, my friend. Straight to business. I wouldn't have expected it otherwise from you. But you'll have to humour me with a single answer."

"Go ahead." He inclined his head and in unison they took a sip of their tea.

"Is this your's?" Ozpin took a small plate from one of his drawers. A piece of paper, probably sealed between two pieces of synthetic glass. The Hunter took ot and studied it for some time. Until he looked up again, a strange look in his eyes.

"Yes and no. I did write this but..."

"But?" Glynda had to raise an eyebrow at the giddy curiosity that came from the normally so reserved headmaster.

"The person who wrote this and me, we differ. We are still the same in the end, but... altered."

"Another life?"

The Hunter nodded. "It was some time ago."

Ozpin barely suppressed a small laugh. That way it sounded more like he was coughing. He was getting older after all.

"This letter." He pointed at the relic in Johannes's hand. "Is nearly three hundred years old. 'Some time' is understated I think."

"Time is relative. Everything depends on the point of view. Mine has changed considerably. Some things on this planet are older than Grimm, Man and Faunus." His face hardened.

"Even older than Salem."

The reaction was instantaneous. For some reason, Glynda's hand went to her hip where her wand was sheathed. Ozpins eyes narrowed, darting between Cinder, Emerald and Mercury who tried their best to remain steadfast. Under every other circumstance, the three would have laughed in the headmasters face and attacked without respite, but now... With Johannes and Maria in the room, this option was out of the window.

"There will be no fighting among us. Not for as long as I do my work." The Hunter said, raising an open palm. "I do not care much for what happens afterwards, but for as long as Salem lives I won't allow these three to be harmed or persecuted."

There was a long pause between the seven people. Even Maria had shed her smile for a grim one. She licked her lips and clapped her hands once, pulling them all out of their standoff.

"So you have chosen your side." Ozpin said, almost eliciting an answer from Cinder before she realised that he was talking to Johannes. It was a biy uncomfortable for her to watch from the sidelines. But the question applied to them too. They had chosen to stand against Salem and had entered the opposite side's court. They would receive orders now, instead of giving them.

"I have chosen to stand against Salem, because she plans to awaken a Great Old One on this world. She doesn't know what she is doing to the world, or herself." It was slightly off putting listening to such dire news being broadcasted in such a serene tone. The barely noticeable smile was not helping too much as well.

"As far as we know, Salem could be as old as Remnant itself. Why do you think she overestimates herself? What if she really _can_ control this 'Old One' you are talking about? It sounds like a force to be reckoned with surely." Ozpin wasn't taking the matter lightly. It was not his style. He just liked to consider all possibilities. Glynda knew that and Johannes looked like he did too.

The Hunter folded his hands under his chin as he leaned forward in his chair. The eyes that seemed to bore right into everyone now locked on the headmaster.

"My dear Professor, tell me, what do you know about Yharnam?"

/

Run! Hide! Out of the woods, away from this terrible place. The young man was in full sprint, weaving through the trees and crashing through the underbrush. Whatever he had seen, it was impossible. He had to be dreaming, yes. This all was just a bad dream. Keep off the booze next time.

The unholy yells and cheers still echoed behind him as he came to a clearing. He remembered it. This was where they had celebrated his twenty second birthday just hours ago. The layout was right, the rocks and stumps exactly the same, but where was the tent? Where were the cars? Where were his friends?

"Nina?" He tentatively called out, cringing as his voice echoed back to him from the forest's dark maws.

"Leo? Mark? Jolly?" Each name he grew bolder until he outright screamed. Turning frantically, whiping black hair from his face, he tried to make out the familiar shapes of his friends. That was until he looked up and wished he didn't.

"There's nothing to be done." A low rough voice swept over him. He whirled around, drawing his knife and adopting a fighting stance. Atlesian military school had trained him well.

"Who is this!?" He had intended to sound rougher, more intimidating. "Show yourself!"

Grass and sticks crunched faintly, almost inaudible as a figure emerged from the maw of the trees. A black coat trailed behind him and his mouth was covered with dark cloth, contrasting sharply with the eerie blue glow that came from his eyes.

"Put the knife away." Why did he feel so powerless to resist the man's command? No one could order him around like that. He lowered his knife, carefully sheathing it behind his back.

"It will be alright." The man stepped forward, resting a hand on his shoulder. Tears formed in his eyes as his eyes came to a halt on Nina and Leo and Mark and Jolanda.

"One day it will be alright, James."

/

General James Ironwood jerked upward in his bed, panting heavily and sweating bullets. What the hell had this been? Why did he dream about this now? He knew the dream, but he hadn't lived through it in almost twenty years. Had needed eight years to process the events of that night. When four of his friends died.

Beaten, cut, raped and skinned. The maniacs had hung them from the trees, upside down, a plank bound behind their arms in a gruesome manner of crucifixion.

Eight years he had needed to move on. After they had slaughtered every single one of these people. He, the Hunter and his daughter.

It had been Maria who had put him in his place after he had lost himself in the bloodshed. Kneeling within a dozen bodies, ramming his blade into another one beneath him he had only stopped when he felt the sharp edge of a blade beneath his chin. He never forgot the light blue that stared down at him. The blonde hair that seemed white in the dark of the night. The voice that spoke to him, a command spoken with the sharpness of a razor.

"Don't listen."

And she had been right. The blood had called out to him and he had almost answered. Had almost lost himself in the act of violence, the joy of murder and maiming. He had never again let it get to him.

The fear of the blood had made him sharp and calculating. Nothing compared to his friend Ozpin or even his assistant Glynda, but enough to rush his way up to the position of general of an entire army. With thirtyone he had been the youngest General in Atlesian history and now, almost twenty years later, he remembered the day when it all started.

His scroll vibrated, producing a growl as it skittered millimetres over the hard wood of his nightstand. He picked it up. A message from Ozpin. It sounded worried.

/

"The Old Ones are exactly what their name is suggesting, though it is just another feeble attempt of simpler minds to put a label on something they can't fully understand. Some of them inhabited this planet long before Faunus, Man or Grimm. Some have descended from the cosmos, to claim this world from those who reigned. Some apparently are just to be. Not interested in the dabbles of Human and Faunus.

It is not easy to categorise them either. There have been whole races here before us, whiped out by their own decadence or unfathomable war. Some of the Old Ones are wholly unique, especially the most powerful ones. However, all of them are powerful and most of them are benevolent in nature. They will answer a call for help as well as one for power.

For man, it is better not to try and comprehend them, lest they tend to lose their grasp on reality. The human brain is not made to withstand such absurdities and powers."

They all sat in a semicircle around Johannes, who had taken off his hat and freed himself of his heavy coat and weapons. The coat lay neatly folded on a cupboard, the tricorn on top of it, while the intricately designed shotgun leaned against the cupboard itself. Maria had taken a seat behind him, slightly offset to the side.

"Man has tried to call upon them for good and for bad, however even the most pure attempt at their power is destined to wreak terrible chaos among those who dare to seize the powers the Old Ones have to give. It is what has happened to the old land in the north. I have seen it and... fought it."

Ozpin just nodded grimly. His expression was that of a man who had doubted what he had already know, but had been confirmed in his suspicions. Cinder, Emerald and Mercury however where not so quick to accept such claims.

"Wait!" Emerald spoke up, her face a mixture of doubt and fearful anticipation. "You don't expect us to believe that you were there when Yharnam fell?! That was hundreds of years ago!"

"Two hundred and seventy three years to be exact." Was the chilled answer. There was no anger in the voice, instead a tone of patient understanding. Information like this was supposed to be fed slowly, to avoid people averting their eyes from the obvious. Well, obvious was an overstatement maybe.

"And I didn't witness the fall of Yharnam. When I arrived, the city and the fortress were already lost. One of my late acquaintances back then told me that there were no people left and she was almost right. Fortunately I have never again seen something like it."

Silence. Just the soft crunching of Maria's blouse was audible. A low coughing came from Cinder as she cleared her throat, unsure if she should issue a question of herself. The Hunter made her decision easy however as he stood up and made towards the door.

"Johannes?" Ozpin asked, his eyes alternating between Emerald, the Hunter and his equipment.

"It seems as if your office is not as secure from outside ears as you thought." Johannes spoke, a slight tone of amusement in his voice. "And I have to compliment your student's ability to be cautious."

He opened the door to the office, letting it swing inward. One after another four bodies fell into the room. One red, one white, one black and one yellow.

/

Blake had to admit, the man was different. If he was a man, that was. He had somehow found them out through the thick doors and even though he announced his actions rather clearly, they had still been surprised for some reason.

The man seemed friendly enough. Her enhanced hearing had granted her the information that his name was Johannes and that he went by the title of Hunter. But even though he smiled down at them, the amusement definitely clear of any malicious intent, she still felt the nervous tension from before, when he had confronted her first.

"Miss Rose! Team RWBY!" It was the headmaster. Suddenly all the curiosity fell from them and was replaced with guilty self awareness. Obviously this conversation had been confidential and obviously the headmaster was agitated. A rare occurrence in it's own right. Very rare.

"Explain yourself!"

Ruby got up, nervously poking her indexers against each other. She stuttered and stumbled as she always did in such a situation.

"We... ummm... we didn't meaan to eavesdrop? We just came toooo..."

Ozpin pinched his nose while he leaned on his desk. Frustration was something totally against his nature and it furthered the girl's insecurity even more.

"I guess it's my fault, headmaster." Ruby, Yang, Weiss and Blake looked up to the towering man. Three of them realised just now, what kind of aura he radiated. One side raw, animalistic power, one side ice cold calculation. His smile didn't seem so friendly anymore.

"I guess my short talk with Miss Belladonna peaked her interest more than it suppressed it. It may be unfortunate, but ultimately everyone is just a slave of their own desires. Even if it seals their fate." He turned back to them as he spoke the last sentence. White teeth flashing with each word.

But somehow it seemed to work on Ozpin, as he sat down and visibly calmed down. "I'm sorry. I might have lost my sense of professionalism here. Just... know that whatever you have heard, everything that was spoken here, _can not_ leave this room. Don't test me on this, please."

All four nodded, Ruby and Weiss more enthusiastic than Yang and Blake barely noticeable as she was staring back at Johannes again. What was this man?

"Maria!" He spoke and the girl immediately perked up and gracefully moved over to the Hunter.

"Would you please escort the ladies outside? Explain the situation to them? Maybe they can show you around the campus. Things must have changed since we were here the first time."

"Of course!" Her reply was cheerful as was to be expected. "I'd love to see what they have done with the gardens!"

Ozpin just nodded and with that, Maria and the team of young huntresses moved outside. Maria almost skipping while the others followed her with lowered heads. Partly in shame obviously and in part because their plan to gain information had failed so miserably.

The door shut behind them and the Hunter immediately lost his smile and turned to the other four.

"I have been rambling Headmaster. To drive my point home: the Old Ones have the power to destroy worlds. Salem can not be allowed to awaken a single one and if she already has, it has to be eliminated."

"I see." Ozpin nodded, exhausted. "What do we do with Salem once we get to her?"

Johannes sat back down, folding his legs over another and glanced at Cinder and her companions.

"If the events unfold just remotely like Yharnam, anyone who sides with her is my prey."

/

"Have you trained here too?" Ruby asked as the four of them lead the platinum haired girl through the ground floor of Beacon Tower. Even Blake and Weiss had to admit that Maria's cheerfulness was contagious. Before the elevator had even reached the floor, the general mood had lifted considerably.

"No, sadly. Johannes needed to get away from people for a while. So I went with him."

"He didn't want you to study here?" Yang asked. She had always been an advocate of freedom. Had their teamleader not been her little sister, maybe tensions would have been unavoidable.

"Oh, no! He even asked me to. Something about living a normal life. Something he's not capable of anymore. He didn't want me to become a grumpy loner like he tends to be."

"I don't think he has to worry about that." Yang said as they opened the door to the outside. "You said you wanted to see the gardens?"

"Sure. I'd like to see everything very much. But let us start with the gardens."

Upon reaching the humble flowerfields, the blonde girl seemed to become even more cheerful. To the point even that she became reminiscent of young Ruby most times, who was known as a happy victim of teenage ADHD. Smiling she wandered through between the flowerbeds, sometimes gently caressing the blossoms and sometimes stopping full to take deep breaths.

"What have you heard?" She suddenly asked. Taking each of the four girls of RWBY off guard. Her voice, comparable on a less intense level had a calming quality to it. A melodic tone that made one stop and listen. It was a youthful feeling that her words spread, not like the rough and paradox safety that the Hunter emitted. Caring and loving, like a mother would speak to her child, whereas Johannes's voice carried the unspoken, unspeakable suggestion of deeper and darker powers.

This time another feeling mixed in. It was the feeling that something terrible might happen if one was not to conply. The faint suggestion of consequence, but just within reach of everybody's senses.

"We... not much. The doors are thick and..." Ruby started, suddenly very meek where she had before started to beleaguer Maria with her enthusiastic, but not unwelcome personality.

"They didn't hear anything. I was listening." Blake said, slightly stepping in front of the younger girl as Maria's greens threatened to pierce Ruby's greys. She immediately felt the impossibly analysing gaze on her. Now exposed, maybe in danger. Was she like Johannes? Exactly the same? What were they?

"I see. A cat, of course. Curiosity is a path to downfall my dear. So what did you hear?"

No one said anything for a short while and Blake contemplated just pulling back and lying. Maybe Maria would believe her, but she had also seen right through her disguise. While Blake thought that Johannes might have told her, it was also possible that she had found out herself. With a single glance. Maybe honesty would help them, her. She had the feeling that being on the pair's bad side was an extremely dangerous thing.

"I heard about the elder gods, the Old Ones before. In fairy tales and scary stories. My mother made a joke once that I should behave or the shapeless Yog Sothoth will rise from the sea and steal me from my bed." She smiled sadly at the thought of her mother.

"I had trouble sleeping for at least three nights and she apologised to me and said that it was just a stupid story to scare kids. I felt better then. Now you two come here and tell Ozpin just these stories. That there are things so powerful and so... old, that they wouldn't even notice if they crushed us all. Is this true?"

Maria's face softened a bit as she heard the girl's voice go from a melancholic happiness, something that she also observed with the Good Hunter and found very sweet, to a frightened pleading. She was asking her to deny Johannes's words to Ozpin and for the sake of confidentiality she should, but something within Maria told her that this girl would not let off.

Maybe she would start her own investigations, maybe she would give up, but her susceptibility for the Sleeping One's dreams, from deep down in his grimy city of R'lyeh, would forever stay and haunt her and drive her to the brink of insanity.

Maria also knew, should she give in and give her the information she was so afraid of, her three team members would know too, probably sooner than later. Maybe even more than these four would be dragged into the mess that she and Johannes were observing, that was just developing behind the literal horizons.

"Headmaster Ozpin is a sweet man." Maria began. "He was thrilled at the possibility of me attending Beacon and surely dissapointed when I declined, but when I explained my reasons to him. That I could not leave Johannes for anything in the world, he immediately understood and even praised me.

I think my infatuation with him, with Johannes is the same as a child's to it's parent's. Only so much stronger and for good reason. You see, I'm not really his daughter - please sit..." She gestured for the other three, Ruby already exempt, since she had already sat across from Maria, to sit down and realising the situation had changed, all four complied.

"I am not his daughter and he is not my father." She began as all four had taken their respective places on the healthy green.

"The ways that me and the Good Hunter met, are peculiar and they are full of sorrow for him. He tells me that I too had suffered for a long time and sometimes, the nightmares seek me out when I sleep.

However, I know that it was him who freed me, even though he struggles to talk about it. So I will be there for him, whatever he does and wherever he goes."

The four girls looked in wonder as Maria's mouth turned up in a slight smile. One that signalled fondness of a memory and, wouldn't it have been for her eyes that stared deep into the earth, one of happiness. Now it was clear that she had chosen to carry a heavy burden.

"So, you're his guardian then? I would have guessed it was the other way around." Yang said softly, the wording a bit off. She was an older sister after all. She knew the bond that Maria seemed to talk about and she would only later find out how wrong she was.

"Maybe. Maybe I am keeping him in line. He always tries so hard to keep up his appearance in front of me."

"What do you mean with appearance?" Blake asked, the uncertainty even apparent to th rest of her team. Of course Maria would pick up on it. Her piercing gaze felt like nothing could escape her, which was mostly true.

She smiled.

"Blake Belladonna, you know much more than just what little you have said you might have heard." Maria's tone was friendly, amused even for such a severe accusation.

"Don't misunderstand me, dear." She continiued calmly. "This is not a threat. However, Johannes and I, we will take you with us."

Blake opened her mouth to protest, but Maria raised her hand to silence her.

"Believe me. Knowledge is a dangerous thing. You will be much safer with us than on your own."

"She's _not_ on her own." This was Yang. The blonde brawler had stood up, her pupils a fiery red, as always when her anger reached certain limits. Threatening her friends, her family? The day she would idly sit by while this happened, she would drop dead.

"Certainly." Maria answered the blonde, unfazed.

"I anticipated this. He probably too and it is admirably that you would like to stand with your friend right now. However we can't allow Blake to stay here. Unprotected. He will not allow it."

This didn't seem to calm Yang down in the slightest. "And what is it that is so dangerous that she has to leave? What would come after her that we wouldn't be able to protect her from?

We are Huntresses! Fighting is what we do! Dammit!"

"Yang." Maria had now followed Yang's example and stood up too, putting her hands on the blonde's shoulders. Deep red stared into vivid greens.

"There are things better left unknown. Here, on this world and beyond. Things that have the power to turn you on your loved ones. Things that can make the most stalward minds shatter and descend into insanity. We don't want that to happen to Blake... or you and your team. That is why we will take her with us."

"So everything Johannes said... was true." Blake cut in, her sentence more a statement than a question.

"That's all? They want to take you away and that's all you have to say?" Now Yang was pleading, incredulously at the raven haired girl.

"You have fought for so long to live a live away from something like... this-" She gestured at the patiently smiling Maria.

"-and now you're about to give it up! I'm not believing you right now!"

"Yang, I-" Blake started. She was a mess right now. Guilt and nervous shame as well as fear played over her features as her ears twitched before losing tension and resting against what integrity the fabric of her bow provided.

Johannes deep rumble cut into her attempt to rectify herself.

"You won't have to be seperated."

The slender, towering form of the Good Hunter strode over the little green fields. His path led him directly through several flowerbeds, which for some reason seemed completely undisturbed of his graceful, yet heavy step.

"This is the choice you'll have to make now. Either let the young miss go with us, or come altogether. Either way, Lady Maria has made a choice. You can try to convince her otherwise, but I can tell you from experience that the attempt is in vain... and often foolish, for she is wise beyond her years."

The platinum haired woman blushed, casting her gaze to the ground with a nervous smile.

"But our venture will be a dangerous one. Full of things that should have been left undisturbed. You will have to close your mind, maybe do things you had sworn to never do. I can not promise your safety entirely."

Silence fell on the group, with RWBY eyeing each other nervously, or angrily in Yang's case, while the two who had so brazenly intruded into their life, kept their eyes upon them. Waiting for their decision. Total serenity.

"You don't have to-" Blake started again, but didn't come far as she was cut off again. This time from the younger sister with the scythe, so peculiarly familiar to Maria.

"We will!" Ruby almost yelled, receiving a determined nod from the Heiress and a handgesture from Yang that seemed to ask: "Why even ask?".

The Good Hunter smiled his predatory smile, exposing again the teeth to rend bone.

"Only the necessities. Be ready at dusk. Maria, we need to talk." He said curtly and whirled around, the flaps of his coat swinging with the motion and trailing behind him as he strode off, Maria behind him but not before she turned around and wiggled her fingers in good-bye.

It took a while for the four girls to process what had happened. They all looked at their vibrating scrolls to see a message from Ozpin. He cleared them for their "extracurricular excursion" and wished them luck.

As one they turned and rushed to their dorm.

/

"The group is quite large already." Johannes said, his eyes forward, but no malice in his voice. Nothing in his voice. No anger, no worry, no accusation.

"I know."

"It will be alright." The two passed Beacon Tower and proceeded towards the small, intricately designed lamp that stood behind it, in the center of the large yard in the back, hidden from all eyes, except theirs.

"Why won't you leave?" He asked as he kneeled down and snapped his fingers to ignite the faint, cold glow from the contraption.

"Don't you enjoy my company?" She answered, her hands behind her back and a coy smile back on her lips.

"I love you, you know that." It would take a small while for the messengers to prepare this one. Too many lamps over the globe, but a finite number of faithful servants.

"But I have made you to be free. Still you choose to remain chained onto me."

"But I chose. On my own. I am free."

His smile was there, content but sad. An infinite tragedy that was his inner world. In turmoil and doomed to strain under such unimaginable power, yet he struggled to understand the most basic feelings, especially his own. "Why?"

She reached around his neck and gently caressed his cheek, smiling as he leaned slightly into her gloved hand. Such a human reaction. She may be walking on the line he had long passed.

"Oh, Good Hunter. How easy it would be for you to understand, had you not brought this on yourself. Had you just remained a man."

The lamp lit up and the faint glow enveloped them both, before dissolving them into a fine mist that settled on the adjacent blades of grass in quivering droplets.

\

Regardless of Vale's low numbers of military personnel, the Kingdom's police force had always been on par with their tasks. Maintaining a functioning peace keeping force within the country had helped keeping crime at bay and terrorism largely outside. Of course criminal incursions still took place, some more severe than others. Most events could be quickly dealt with by the standard patrol units of the Valean police. When things got out of hand, the Valean police department utilised one of seven specialised units.

VSRG - the Valean Strike Reaction Group.

The VSRG consisted of specially trained police officers, ex-special-forces operators and technicians. Each group was made up of twenty five operators, spread over five fireteams each. Each fireteam consisted of a pointman, two riflemen and a technician, while each group was able to draw from a team of five marksmen, which weren't attached to a fireteam.

Often, the VSRG was called in to hostage situations, terrorist attacks, large Grimm incursions or to provide relief for overburdened teams of huntsmen. The Strike Reaction Group was a powerful force, combat effective in almost all scenarios and equipped to deal with anything. From a desperate robber taking hostages to behemoth class Grimm.

Right now, the 4th VSRG was occupied with executing a raid on a suspected base of terrorist activity in Vale City itself. The attack was carried out in the dark of the night, with silencers and armor piercing ammunition. Lockpicks ate through closed doors and padded boots shuffled through the dimly lit corridors while the prying eyes from Overwatch provided intel and coverfire.

"Entry Team two, this is Nemesis. Take up position in one of the offices and wait for Alpha." The low voice of the mission commander rustled through the headsets of each trooper.

"Nemesis, here Entry Team two. Affirmative."

Immediately the four operators fell into step. A cornercam was gently placed under the door and turned around to confirm that the room was empty. A gentle push showed that the door was unlocked and silently the four filed in, securing blindspots and exits.

"Nemesis, this is Entry two. We have secured the room. Do you have our locations?"

"Affirmative Entry two. Wait for Alpha."

The same scene played out on two other locations of the building and on two outside walls, two separate teams stacked up at the doors. They were Entry four and five, the main attack teams for this operation.

This would be over in seconds.

"All teams! Status!"

"Entry one. In position."

"Entry two. In position"

"Entry three, wait... ready."

"Entry four. Ready."

"Entry five. Just say the word."

Several seconds of tense silence reigned shortly, only interrupted by the soft rustling of the wind and a few distant voices from inside. Nobody suspected a thing. Just another night in the shadier parts of Vale City.

"Affirmative. All teams, go!" Command muttered the words, power to the building shut off and immediately all hell broke loose.

Two doors exploded inwards, sending splinters and shrapnel down corridors as Four and Five slid inside, rifles raised and eyes forward. A man rounded the corner, his eyes wide and his face contorted in a silent scream. He drew a gun fumbling and fired twice, the bullets harmlessly bouncing off the pointman's shield. Two more shots rang out and the man dropped against the wall, red streaks following his path down the surface.

"Entry four. One hostile down, east entrance." The report came, clinical and cold. Only seconds before the hallway lit up with automatic gunfire from one of the doors.

On the other end of the building, Entry five stood before two dazed suspects. Both armed, both disorientated and both staring right into the bright flashlights affixed to the VSRG's guns.

"DROP THE GUNS YOU FUCKERS! DROP IT! DOWN! ON YOUR FUCKING KNEES, MOTHERFUCKER!" Surely, the troopers could have put more effort in yelling more inventive insults as they screamed full lungs at the two men, but the results were the same. Knees drove all air out of their lungs as soon as their weapons left their hands and both were slammed to the ground, cable binders shut tight around their wrists before Entry five calmly updated Nemesis on their status.

Team four and five were to move upstairs and clear the remaining two floors. At this point just routine. Team one, two and three had the objective of securing the lower levels. Those that weren't drawn on any plan of the building. They had been dug out by the current inhabitants and according to several informants, the basement was maze like and expansive.

Silently the twelve operators slid out if their hiding spots while gunfire echoed from upstairs. Five and four were having a hard time leaving the staircases, but with every sharp crack of one of Overwatch's sniper rifles, both teams advanced a little further.

One, two and three stalked over to the hidden entrance on the first floor. A shelf covered the large hole in the wall that led down into the tunnels. Had the situation been less serious, the operatives would have laughed at the stereotype.

The heavy wooden shelf was quickly shoved to the side by the strong arms of One's three men and one woman, revealing a spacious tunnel that was illuminated by torches on all sides.

Taking a last look towards the yells and screams from upstairs, demanding to drop weapons and put hands on heads, the twelve men and women raised their rifles and descended into the tunnels.

\

Interview 09-VSRG-1634-01-03

Interviewed: Cpt. [Redacted] (designated: 02-1)

Interviewer: Mj. Steve Lockhardt (designated: I)

I: Captain, before we start I'd like to make sure that this investigation is neither aimed at you or your men. We want to find out what happened at site-4. Do you understand?

02-1: Understood, sir.

I:Good. Now let's get straight to the point. When you breached the perimeter and advanced into the tunnels, what exactly did you find?

02-1:...

I: Captain?

02-1: Yeah, yeah. I'm just... trying to make sense of it all, you know? Lot of fucked up shit down there.

I: Sorry. What kind of fucked up shit are we talking about?

02-1: Still not entirely sure, Major. Weird shit in general. I am still not sure if I really saw all these things or if my mind was just playing tricks, you know?

I: We have heard similar things from the other teams. The blood tests were all clean. The chance that you were hallucinating because of some airbourne drug or something is slim. What did you see, Captain?

02-1 is silent for approximately 45 seconds.

02-1: There was this... monolith. A huge chamber about a kilometer in, with this monolith in the center. It was made of something weird... looked like black marble or some. Seemed to pulsate almost, sir.

I fought Grimm in Mantle, sir. I ain't no coward... but this image. Somehow haunting sir.

I: I understand, Captain. What about the hostiles down there?

02-1: Ah, yeah. Almost forgot that there was resistance. Somehow these fucking maniacs were the most normal thing down there, you know...

Had to kill'em. None of them surrendered. And we tried, sir! Tazers, pepperballs, blunt force, nothing worked. They just got up, over and over again. Our helmetcams should have a pretty good picture.

I: We've seen it. Some nasty stuff. Did you notice anything weird about them?

02-1: Other than the total disregard for their own life? ...Yes. The eyes...

I: Could you elaborate?

02-1: Totally empty. Like... It was like looking into a hole. Not sure how to explain this.

I: It's alright. Could you tell me more about the site itself? The cavern?

02-1: It's fuzzy, sir. But the geometry of the place was wrong, definitely. Impossible angles and weird hidden corners. One if the 3's got hacked pretty bad in the leg because one of these nutjobs just came out of nowhere. I was behind him... looked like he came straight out of the wall, but there was a corner... just almost invisible.

Whoever goes in there should move with caution. Don't know if there are some weird holes in the ground that you can't really see.

I: I see... Our cleanup team has found something interesting. Think it's a bust or... idol of some kind. You know what I'm talking about?"

02-1: ...Yes.

I: Would you like to see it?

02-1: No. Definitely not, sir.

\

Cinder pulled her coat tighter around her body as she waited at the landing pad for the four young huntresses to arive. The temperature had dropped significantly during the last two days, much to everyone's surprise, as almost all forecasts had prophesied a continuation of the last month's mild weather.

She glanced to her left and saw Johannes sit in their dedicated Bullhead, right now a complicated looking long-rifle disassembled before him, as he took his time cleaning the parts, removing excess grease and applying a thorough layer of a mysterious, slightly luminescent salve to certain parts. The whole operation smelled of lavender and seemed to require most of the Good Hunter's attention.

Maria sat to Cinder's right, idly chatting with Mercury and Emerald, though the green haired girl had to hide her slight jealousness for her as Mercury's flirting attempts towards Maria were becoming more and more apparent. The platinum haired girl took the advances in stride and her guardian didn't seem to pay the whole endeavour much attention, however Cinder decided that she would have to keep the boy in line. She would not risk the Swordsmith's wrath.

Still, her initial fear of the pair had mostly subsided and been replaced with a strangely thorough feeling of security. For some reason, the looming danger of retaliation from her old masters didn't seem so intimidating anymore and instead she now had returning thoughts of redemption.

Cindet had done a lot of things she wasn't proud of. Murder, deception and treason among them and she had, shockingly, realized why these things had to happen. To satisfy her own hunger for power, her need to prove to the world that she was a force to be reckoned with, that she mattered.

Then she met Johannes and Maria.

The decision to defect and seek them out had been hard and carried out very spontaneously. The three White Fang guardsmen that had to die for them to leave hadn't fazed her much, but only because of her own callousness when it came to dishing out violence. She didn't enjoy hurting others... at least she would tell this to herself.

She turned towards the sharp metallic noise that Johannes' weapon produced as he snapped the last parts into place. A dry click came from the thing as he pulled the trigger and the hammer struck metal.

Just now she was able to recognise the gun itself. It was much larger than anticipated from it's disassembled state and not nearly as carefully crafted as the double barrelled shotgun they had seen before.

Where the other gun had intricantly designed carvings all iver the stock and barrel, this one seemed to consist of stamped sheetmetal, industrial and menacing in it's form. The barrel was massive and even from some distance away, the crude rifling was visible. Quite obviously, this weapon was designed to fire enormous calibres.

It dissolved into a blueish mist, as they had seen before and left the faint smell of lavender behind. Maria and Johannes had been gone for the most part of the day before. Ozpin had mentioned that they might have stopped by their home, but Cinder couldn't see how this was possible without their craft or any outside help.

Then again, she was not supposed to understand. She had already chastised herself during her failed attempt to fully grasp the concept of alternate universes earlier that week when they had first arrived here, but she liked to think that Ozpin had looked more shocked than her.

So there was no need to try and actually comprehend the literal amount of impossible tales the Hunter had spouted.

"The waking world as some have called it is nothing but the plane of existence we find ourselves in when fully conscious. But other worlds exist and sometimes we get a glimpse of it. Those who lose themselves there are often called mad, but in reality, they have seen things beyond human understanding. That's why it is dangerous. Not because of the physical harm that could come to us. Everyday one can be crushed by a car or eviscerated by a stray Grimm. The danger is always real.

But to lose oneself in one of the many dreams... that can be hell."

Maria's words echeoed inside Cinder's mind. What did she mean with dreams? Literal dreams, or real, tangible scapes of some parallel world? Worlds? With living beings in them which had evolved without any semblance to human/faunus ethics and values, perhaps for millions of years?

She shook the thought off. Even though Ozpin was her old enemy, she had to give his integrity and knowledgeability to him. If he believed the Good Hunter to be able to fight off the unimaginable, then who else should?

Maybe she could even gain something out of the whole...

Too late she realised Johannes' smile and stare. She was still not sure, but somehow doubted that even thoughts were safe around this... man.

"Hey!" The chipper callout pulled her out of her contemplations. It was Ruby, the young leader of team RWBY and her entourage. They were each greeted with a hug from Maria and properly introduced to Emerald, Mercury and Cinder by Johannes.

"Still a much larger group than optimal." He stated curtly. "You might just want to stick to Maria. It's possible that I will have to take certain ventures on my own."

Things better left unknown.

/

The flight from Beacon to the outskirts of Vale was uneventful so far. Ruby asked much too many questions for Cinder's liking, but she guessed it was better than to remain silent for the whole of the seven hours it took. When thy landed, she and at least two of her teammates were an open book to her.

Ruby herself, as she proudly announced, had just turned seventeen, practically an adult. As leader of RWBY all administrative tasks, as well as strategic and tactical leadership fell to her. The blonde, Yang, was her two years older sister. Apparently a hothead at times but she never meant anything as harmful as she tended to phrase it. Their relationship was surely healthy.

Weiss Schnee, Cinder already knew a lot about. Anyone who had taken a brief peek into a financial magazine knew of her name. Heiress to the largest company of Remnant, the Schnee Dust Company or SDC for short, she was as well mannered and distanced as Cinder had expected. However she was an expert in the manipulation of dust and so, a very valuable asset when it came to support within a combat situation.

The last, unmistakenly faunus girl, was Blake. She didn't talk too much apparently, which Cinder could appreciate. It seemed that she only spoke when she had actually something to say anr that was nice. However she was also the only one she couldn't really place. A malus definitely, so she would keep an eye on her.

Their departure would have been relatively silent if not for another squad of nosy teenagers who had hurried after RWBY. None of which Cinder recognised safe for Pyrrha Valkyrie, the holder of multiple mistralian tournament championship belts.

Johannes let them talk for a few minutes before he silenced all eight of them with a meaningful look and ushered Ruby and her team into the Bullhead, leaving the other team, obviously comrades and friends behind as the airship rose into the air.

"Get some sleep." Johannes issued about one hour into the flight.

"I need all of you awake and rested by the time we land."


	5. Die vierarmige Bestie

_A.N.: It has taken me a long time. And it is only 6k long. However, we advance in the plot, we have new characters (minor ones) and we have something for those of you who need blood. It's the fifth real chapter, I think._

 _If you like it, please tell me, give a word of praise, critique, whatever. If you don't like it, tell me why. Maybe I can make the story better._

 **Die vierarmige Bestie** **\- The four armed Beast**

Lilian Gray was an open minded individual, she was sure. There were no major prejudices anchored in her mind and her parents had always taught her to respect everyone, regardless of their heritage, appearance or ideology. She also liked to think of herself as a good officer. Someone the people could trust and she would help. She would help anyone if they needed help. She would protect and she would die if it meant saving another life.

How she despised the creatures in front of her.

She was ordered to escort a foreign specialist and his entourage to the morgue where these... things, that the VSRG had killed were kept. Cool and dark, but the air was somehow moist and stunk with something she was unable to place. Rotten saltwater was what came to her mind when she tried.

The 'specialist' had introduced himself as Johannes to her and seemed uncanny in his own right. He was accompanied by a black haired girl named Cinder Fall and the local coroner Dr. Halbert. The doctor was a slim man in his forties, with greying hair that was tied back in a loose ponytail and sharp eyes that suggested a lazy intelligence. Someone who had mastered his medical doctorate with his left while his right was busy learning languages and traveling the continent. He was also the one who had opened the bodybag and the only one except for Johannes who had not recoiled sharply by the stench that escaped the plastic encapsulation.

"It's been less than fortyeight hours since this specimen has been brought in and it has already suffered severe degradation." The doctor noted as he held a cloth to his nose in a futile attempt to shield it from the nauseaus gas.

"Such rapid decomposition is most unusual, except for the Grimm. Peculiar..."

All present watched as Johannes brought his hand up as if to measure any nonexistent winds and, after a few seconds of contemplation, rested it on the forehead of the repulsing creature.

"We have gloves if you need them." Dr. Halbert spoke calmly upon the sight of the Hunter's bare hand on the slimy skin of the thing. A kind of friendly nod was his answer before he, with what just seemed like a slight push, shattered the skull and broke through the bone.

Cinder stepped back in surprise while Lilian let out a soft shriek as a bit of sickly brown blood sailed through the air next to her. The doctor, though caught off guard, only twitched slightly and resumed his observation of what the Hunter was doing.

Johannes retracted his hand from the grey mush and all of them saw what seemed to be a small piece of pale flesh. He held it against the light.

"What is it?" Halbert asked, curiously studying the bit, still dripping with ghastly iquor, while Johannes muttered his soft answer.

"...amygdala."

"I'm sorry?"

"Here." Johannes dropped the piece in Halbert's gloved hand, who immediately started his observation on the object.

"The amygdala. Terribly degenerated though, I am afraid." The Hunter clarified, this time louder so everyone could listen.

"I fear it confirms my suspicions. I have to see the tombs where this specimen was found, as soon as possible."

"What suspicions?" Lilian asked quickly. She had been left completely in the dark about the purpose of this so called 'specialist', other than that he had to see the bodies. He looked at her and smiled the weird smile that sometimes crept on his face.

"Oh, miss Gray, it seems I have temporarily forgotten about your presence here. I apologize. As for your question: it is better if you don't ask. Though it is my mistake that has peaked your curiosity. For this I apologize as well."

"What if I insist?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest, meeting the needles that were his eyes. He stepped in front of her, their difference in size becoming apparent. Cinder recognized this instinctively as the attempt at intimidation that it was. And she had to admit, it worked. Though she only did silently and begrudgingly and was still unable to understand it completely.

She had faced larger, more aggressive and supposedly stronger opponents than Johannes, but sometimes, something was terribly off about him. Something that didn't occur with his partner Maria, despite all their similarities. A distortion at the edges of his silhouette or a slight mismatch with his shadow and his movement. But still, Lilian Gray seemed not impressed. A mistake.

"If you insist, who would I be to withhold the truth from a promising young lady like yourself?" How he could speak so clearly as his smile widened was a mystery to both Cinder and Lilian. The latter who just noticed the rows of sharkish teeth that rimmed his mouth. Not quite inhuman, just off. Lilian didn't believe in fairytales, she thought.

"But oh, you should." He answered her thoughts. "They are all true. Still interested?"

She would never admit it, but cold sweat was running down the neck of Lilian Gray. She couldn't place it right, but it had probably to do with the place, the smell, the lack of light. Maybe with the way said light broke around this man's form as ifhe was made of glass. Yes maybe it was this.

"I think I will pass." She finally pressed the words through her lips and felt the image before her return to what she was used to see. A dark silhouette of a tall man. She had dealt with individuals like this hundreds of times. In the end, they are all the same, small men when confronted with superior will and training. Reflexively, without intent of actually drawing it, her hand fell on her gun which was holstered at her right hip. Should be holstered at her right hip.

She frantically patted at the empty polymer. Unwilling to break eye contact.

"A wise choice almost followed by a foolish habit." A click. Her eyes flickered down on his hand. There it was, her gun, held by the barrel with the grip pointing towards her. He motioned for her to take it, but it felt light.

She flipped it around. The magazine was missing.

"We will leave now. Don't follow us." He said as he strode away, placing the ammunition on a nearby tray, his coat billowing in a non-existent breeze. Cinder nodded a short goodbye and followed.

"She challenged you." She said as both stepped outside into the cool air. Autumn was coming and the temperatures were falling.

"She did. I enjoyed myself with her." He answered and the girl was surprised to hear a trace of very human, genuine amusement. Sometimes she forgot that he had at least _been_ a normal human at some point.

They walked a bit farther until Cinder couldn't go anymore. The feeling was returning again. The fear, not of Salem, not of the authorities or Ozpin, but the fear of realisation. A feeling that she had tried to bottle up and stow away since they had joined the Good Hunter and Maria. Those two, who stood so tall next to them.

Johannes too had stopped, standing there motionless, his eyes surely twitching all over her in an attempt to find what was wrong.

It had been weeks. Weeks in which she had tried to keep her mask from falling. She knew Emerald and Mercury didn't understand her plight. They didn't share her hopelessness, at least not until she broke down. And now, where she was alone with the Hunter, something in her decided it was time to let it go. And then she cried.

They had sat down on a bench in a nearby park, overlooking a small lake that was fed by a little stream that snaked itself down from the nearby Lethem canal. To Cinder's surprise, two birds had joined them and were now pecking at the ground, seemingly oblivious of the two people. Both were crows, young ones still, but already large animals with impressive wings. She had calmed down from her outbreak as she observed the birds looking for food. Johannes hadn't said a word since they left the morgue. He had just put his hand on her shoulder and guided her here. Now he was smiling a less predatory smile. Almost soothing even. They must have been sitting her for at least fifteen minutes by now.

"I am sorry. I have lost my temper." She said softly, looking at one of the crows curiously examining the ground in front of them for the third or fourth time.

"Yes, you have." Came the reply, flat and dull. He wasn't even looking at her, instead he stared at the water. What did she expect?

"But you and Miss Belladonna have been given a cruel gift. Insight." He continued, surprising Cinder, who had expected the matter to be over. Today, Johannes seemed in the mood to talk.

"I know who you are Cinder Fall. I know what you have done." No accusation, just a statement of the facts. "The knowledge that is to be gained when one is faced with decisions as grave as you made them, is often underestimated and put off as the beginning of insanity. But I think the path to a useable understanding of the world leads all people through madness."

"If your speech is supposed to cheer me up, then it sucks." She stated with a tired smile. "What do you want to say?"

To her further surprise, Johannes reached into his coat and produced a pack of cigarettes, removed one and lit it. She denied as he offered her one for herself, so he hid them again and took a long drag, blowing smoke into the air that shimmered in more colours than it was allowed to.

"As I already stated. I know who you are. I even know your real name..." She stared at him alarmed and he smiled back at her. A look that confirmed her suspicions. Not even her thoughts were free.

"You are not weak, Cinder." He continued unfazed. "Nor am I more powerful than you are. We are merely different in our abilities and when all of this is over and we are still alive, nothing will have changed. You will still be free to make right and wrong decisions and I will still go back to my house in the woods."

"That doesn't sound very uplifting."

"Lucky then that my job is just to hunt beasts then."

Cinder couldn't help but smile at the reply. But she wasn't convinced of the finality of the sentence. She also had another question.

"What is the plan? Now that your suspicions have been confirmed?" She asked as he extinguished his cigarette on the sole of his boot and threw it in a trashcan. He was getting up and for a few seconds, she was sure that he wouldn't answer.

"I am going to make sure that Salem's plan fails and I will kill her. If her rituals have been successful, I will kill whatever beast she has unleashed and then I will kill her."

"Just like that?"

"Yes. However, I'd like to be sure that you are aware of the scope of our operation. This is not just a villain to fight and a monster to kill. This is the beginning of a war." There was the smile again, the other smile. The sharkish rows of teeth.

"Metaphorically?" She asked, though she already knew the answer.

"Very literally, I am afraid."

There was a long pause before the Hunter spoke up again.

"You care for a word of advice?"

"Yes... I guess?"

"Power won't bring you happiness. But look for that. Happiness... from within. It is almost impossible to achieve, but one of the few, undoubtedly noble goals. Also a fleeting one. But if you find it, you can go to rest, assured that because of you, a lot of people have been brought closer to this goal themselves."

/

"Hey!!! Uncle Qrow!" Ruby cheered as she saw the familiar figure of Yang's mothers's brother, standing in front of the creepy building as valean police officers buzzed around.

"Hey you two." He nodded at the sisters, but eventually was not able to escape from the inevitable hugs.

"You not surprised to see us?" Yang asked with an eyebrow raised as she let go of him.

"Ozpin told me you might be around. If it was up to me... forget it. This your team?" He nodded in the direction of Blake and Weiss, which Ruby happily introduced. Blake just nodded at him while Weiss, strictly by her noble upbringing, curtsied slightly.

"Hello, Mr. Branwen. How nice to see you again." Qrow's eyes widened as he noticed the remaining three persons of the group. One gray haired boy and a green haired skimpily dressed girl, who both hello'd at him and then her.

Fucking Maria. Which meant-

"Lady Maria. You I didn't expect. Can't say if that's a good or a bad thing." He said while bowing slightly to her, one foot stepping back and his left hand softly touching his chest.

She returned the gesture, though more elegant and gracious than him.

"A bad thing I am afraid. We are here to investigate the doings of this... cult, the VSRG wiped out so professionally." She replied, her smile only wavering a bit.

"And your... guardian?"

"He is already involved."

"Oh... damn." Qrow's visage grew serious instantly at the answer to his own mention of the man. "I guess it is serious then?"

"It concerns an acquaintance of Johannes and enemy of your's and Ozpin." She said as she stepped closer to him.

"You have modified your weapon I see." Mentioning at the convertible sword on his back.

"It seems heavier. I hope you had not to sacrifice agility for this change."

"I have advanced a bit since we last met. I assure you that my effectiveness has increased." Ruby and Yang, more than their teammates, noticed the change in Qrow's posture. He stood straighter as the girl scrutinized him with her usual smile still present.

"You two have met?" The younger sister interjected and her uncle scratched the back of his neck as he looked towards his nieces.

"Y'could say that. Only wish it was under different circumstances." He started but was silenced by a meaningful look from Maria, who added the closing statement. "And we hope you appreciate that there is nothing more to add to this matter, except that it greatly disgruntled the Good Hunter."

But Qrow was a man with great capabilities when it came to hiding his insecurities. "By the way, how is the old man? Still as grumpy as I remember?"

"That's how he is." Maria answered with a goodnatured laugh. "Also he is growing tired of this world's rules. He might approach things quite differently than back then."

The man just managed a wry smile at that, before he turned back to the four girls of RWBY.

"Be careful, okay. I know you can watch your backs, but you need to remember that retreat doesn't equal giving up." The four nodded, Ruby more enthusiastically as the others, who might have had a better grasp on her uncle's implications.

/

 _October one, this is Hammer. Test call. Do you copy?_

"Hammer, this is October one. Good copy." Mary Decker whispered into her headset attached to her helmet.

"We are now below the inner entrance hatch. We'll advance through the crew quarters towards the main bridge."

 _Copy, October one. Control call every fifteen minutes. Godspeed, marines!_

"Thank you sir." Decker switched to the dedicated channel of their entry team. The U332 was a large ship. Pride of the second Atlesian defense fleet, with several control centers, full bridges and battle stations dotted all along the hull.

High command had been shocked to find that the U332 had been found, not on the bottom of the Mantlean sea, but floating almost five thousand kilometres away, just east of the faunus dominated island state of Menagerie.

It had been a massive diplomatic undertaking to not only soothe the faunus' mistrust of the militarist Atleasian government, whose heavily armed main battle submarine had just surfaced just at their shore, but also to get the council's go to investigate the matter themselves, without an international task force. Nobody within the Atlesian government wanted the insides of a high tech battle structure such as the U332 to leak.

The submarine had five non-emergency entrances, labelled one, two, three, four and "main". All were currently open and being breached by recon marine teams of the Atlesian special forces. All geared up in full kit and expecting trouble. General Ironwood was able to connect the Good Hunter's resurfacing and the vanishing of the U332 rather well.

Mary Decker raised her gloved hand and motioned for her team to stack up behind her. Even though the submarine was a large ship, the corridors would only ever accommodate two men shoulder to shoulder.

Decker was tense, she always was when she was in action, but the three men and one woman behind her made her feel safe...er. All four of them were trained professionals, top of their classes, expert marksmen, veterans of many anti terrorism operations and combat missions. Armed and armored to the teeth.

"I don't like this Em." Gabe Dieter said as he creeped past her to position himself in front of a hatch. A tall, lanky man, with muscles like steel rope in his arms and legs. He was also an animal in close quarters combat, making him the perfect pointman.

"Scared, Dietz?" Decker grinned behind her balaclava, the NVG hiding the wrinkle in her eyes.

"Fuck off, Em." They raised their rifles as Dieter unlocked the hatch and opened the hatch and slowly swung it open, his own handgun peeking past the metal. One by one they stormed in, Dieter up front, gun sweeping the empty room.

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

"Call me the Hammer! There's nothing here!"

"Sure thing, Em." That was Ron, her communications specialist, who was currently assembling the high powered radio. It was needed to penetrate the thousands of tons of steel, to achieve a signal at all, but luckily the connection was bearable where they were.

"Hammer, this is October one, do you copy?"

 _October one, it... a bit choppy but we r...d you, over._

"Hammer, we are currently within the officer's quarters. It's empty. We have combed six hundred crew beds and there is no one here. The whole boat is clean. There aren't even personal items here or equipment strewn around."

 _October one, are yo... ...ecording?_

"Alternating, yes sir. Jameson's camera is rolling right now."

 _Good. We need ... unbroken video ...cumentation. Proceed to the bridge, exit-...int is entr...ce ...r._

"Hammer? Please repeat! Which exit point?"

 _Exit poi... four. Do you copy?_

"Good copy. October one out."

It took them the better part of two hours to traverse the rest of the crew quarters without any further incident. The first real finding, apart from finding absolutely nothing, was in the captain's quarters. It was a small detail that they almost missed and it was only in the context of the situation that it made them curious.

There, on the captain's desk, was the small statue. Only about ten centimetres in height and five in diameter, it was made from a dark, semitransparent, glass or mineral that broke the light around it, like it was trying to avoid it actively. But what was actually interesting and shocking to equal parts, was the image on display.

Four hairy, sceletal arms, one on each side of a roughly rectangular shape, the main body, elevated the "torso" up to roughly eight tenths of the thing's height. The upper third of the torso was covered in a seemingly wandering mass of orbs which seemed to be eyes, while the lower part opened up into a large beak, like a kraken's. Between where the arms sprouted, an uneven number of tendrils snaked themselves along the arms and torso and terminated in hollow claws.

It was grotesque to look at, especially since the whole creation was meticulously crafted. Without a doubt, a result of exceptional craftsmanship.

October one made detailed video recordings of the statue, before bagging it for further examination, back at the Hammer. The space around them seemed to become more and more sinister, oppressing even, as the shadows seemed to seep further towards their feet.

It might have been almost comical as all members of October team started movement in unision, to chech their weaponry. Bolts were pulled back and magazines inspected. A normal person might have noticed first how the hair on their neck started to stand up, or the cold sweat that accumulated over a brow, but not Atlesian recon marines. To them, the instinct to fight or flight was a conscious choice. Here they prepared for a battle.

"Em-"

"I know, Dietz." She whispered back, ghostly soft but still audible over their own radio frequency.

"Guns up. Check your corners. Dietz, you're up front. Ron, behind me. Sia and Jameson: watch our backs!"

She received a subdued "Hoorah" from her team and turned back forward. Dietz's shotgun pointed down the hall, unwavering, waiting for instructions. One could have balanced marbles on it.

"Forward. Next junction: left." Decker commanded mechanically as she lowered her PDA, which contained a map of the deck and brought her own rifle to bear.

"Go." And as one, they moved.

/

Fourty five minutes later, the five marines were still rushing empty corridors. They were near the exit. Fact. They had the feeling something was wrong. Gut.

Exit point four was a mere one hundred and fifty meters away, when the environment started to change. It was almost invisible, until it wasn't anymore. It had crept it's way into their vision without them even noticing, as they had concentrated so hard on possible movement and potential ambushes.

The floor of the metal corridors were now covered in a deep coloured, green slime, almost like algea. Only that algea didn't normally move on it's own like that. It's sticky tendrils followed them as they slowed their advance, and even started to creep up the boots when one stood still. It was not hard at all to resist the green substance's grasp, but it was nevertheless disconcerting, even more as they spotted thicker, wiry tentacles of algea, which hung from ceilings and lazily tracked their movements.

Some steps later, they reached a spot, that was entirely befallen by shells, carapaces and other hulls of sea crawlers. Crabs, cancer, amonites and seashells littered the floor and accumulated in one corner into a mass of writhing, disgustingly even, steaming segmented extremities and tentacles. It was here that October team found a speck of what had happened to the crew of U332.

Below the mountain of crustaceans, Sia, an exceptional marksman and a woman with an eye for details, noticed a formless, black object amongst the animals. She retrieved it with the boltcutters from Jameson's backback, since the infernal creatures were snapping at her hands with tiny claws and beaks and finally held it up to the light of their helmets.

It was a piece of synthetic leather, of a shoe's sole to be found out under further examination. Especially sole as on shoes as they were wearing right now, combat boots. A further look into the pile made them freeze in shock.

It was, vaguely but definitely, shaped like a humanbody. Deformed enough that it wasn't obvious, but defined enough that anybody with a bit of suspicion was able to discern it.

Dietz was immediately on it, shortly after joined by Ron, who helped him remove the sea critters from the deceased comrade, even though the claws were cutting into their skin. Decker looked on while Sia and Jameson were securing the two entrances to their section of the corridor.

Peculiarly, the crabs and amonites seemed to perish instantly as they were removed from the body. Some even fell apart, dispensing a foul stinking ooze from the fresh wounds, which dissipated soon after, leaving the empty shell behind. No flesh or matter left behind, safe for horn, pearl and chitin.

The bodies hand shot forward and it rise to it's feet, helped by Dietz, who was stumbling backwards while the corpse hung on to him. At the earliest glance, Decker thought the man to be alive. It took a second look to find that his head was hanging loosely behind his shoulders and one arm was missing from the elbow down. The corpse's grip was iron though.

Dietz managed to kick the body off, into the corridor ahead and immediately pulled the shotgun from where it hung at his side. Decker, Ron and Sia were a step further already and discharged precise, but rapid fire into the corpse's remaining vitals. A blow from the shotgun folded the dead man in half and made him collapse on the floor.

The clatter of falling magazines filled the air as four of five reloaded their weapons.

"Contact, rear." Jameson droned from behind. He had been watching the other corridor the entire time and had now thrown a chemlight to illuminate the hall further.

At least four other bodies in different states of decay shambled towards them. Their movements were slow and sloppy, but they were nearing steadily.

Decker thought. A dozen scenarios playing out simultaneously and each time they were outgunned, outmanoeuvred and outnumbered. The amount of ammunition that it had taken to pacify a single corpse, suggested that they had no fighting option. So the other choice: tactical retreat.

"Demobilise them! Shoot the legs!" She yelled and snapped her rifle up to blast two shins to pieces. The dead mariner collapsed on the floor, momentarily disoriented.

"Two fire, three retreat! Dietz, you're vanguard."

"Understood."

They brought about nine tenths of the way behind them like that. Two firing at the increasing numbers of the dead, while two retreated after the tall marine. Now they heard the gunfire from all over the ship too. It seemed like other teams had met the enemy as well.

Almost there. Behind them a towering wall of legless zombies, crustaceans still sticking to them. They didn't bleed, instead they emitted the same, foul and pale substance like the crabs. But they were almost through. She could see the light of the hatch, even though it was a good climb up the latter, to the surface.

Dietz was smashed aside by an unseen force. Something from the shadows, something else had struck. She took a look and saw his mangled form, crashed into ont of the steel doors. She looked away, no use for empathy now, he was dead. Her eyes darted around frantically, while her three teammates continued to hold back the tide of dead men, as she looked for the thing that had killed her friend and colleague within the blink of an eye. She felt rage bubbling up inside her before she layed eyes on it.

Somehow, without her noticing, it had manoeuvred itself right below the cone of light that their exit casted into the darkness of the submarine. And she recognized it.

She recognized it's form from the small statue that they had found on the desk in the captain's office.

Four hairy, sceletal arms, one on each side of a roughly rectangular shape, the clawed tentacles were acting obviously like syringes, able to pierce a victin and either suck it dry or inject something. It's bulbous eyes were filled with milky, slightly luminescent liquid that swirled and made Mart Decker feel sick, apart from the appearance of the thing itself.

It's hind legs were perched lower and it's front legs stretched out, so that the mouth or beak was pointing at her, snapping with force that she was sure, would take her apart without effort.

She fired.

Projectiles vanished in the body with dull thudding noises, indicating that the damage was minimal, until a bullet hit an eye, which splattered apart and painted the walls with splotches of grey, slightly shining liquid.

It screetched and thrashed, moving towards the team at an unnatural speed, before grabbing Decker by the waist and throwing her back. She landed right below the hatch. If she wanted, she could climb right out. Whatever this thing, possibly these things were, they could not be allowed to get out. The A.A.S. Hammer above was equipped with 380mm anti armor batteries with fire-ice dust warheads, more than enough to destroy the U332 and take a good chunk of the ocean floor with it. But what about her team?

She had already lost Gabe. A good friend. She would not loose the other three. Groaning, she turned around on her back and felt that her right arm was broken. Her assault rifle lay in parts next to her and behind the disgusting creature as it stomped towards her, it's "eyes" throbbing and squelching. She drew her pistol and emptied the magazine into the mouth of the thing as it bared its sharp beak once again and showcased the barbed, disgusting tongue that sat within it.

The slide locked back and she flipped the magazine out, before putting the gun on her chest to grab another magazine. It was painfully slow, but she kept the thing occupied. She racked the slide on her vest and fired another dozen if shots, but this time the creature didn't stay back.

It charged her, screetching and stomping, only to stop right before her and reel its front legs back, ready to smash her body apart.

Her eyes whipped up, to meet with a shadowy silhuette, descending upon her from the hatch of entrance four. A dark coat bellowed behind it, behind him as he fell towards her, his face obscured by a piece of cloth, but his eyes. The eyes pierced right through her.

Heavy boots planted themselves left and right to her hips and a knee smashed into the metal next to her chest, leaving a sizeable dent behind. The feet of the creature came down upon her and the stranger above her and impacted hard on his back. The dent deepened. The thing drew back a few meters, obviously appalled by the obstacle between itself and it's prey.

Mary Decker looked up, right back into the eyes of the man who had shielded her. She expected his chest to be ripped apart, his shoulder to be missing, but he was fine. Tall, maybe even taller than Dietz had been, lean and pale. At least judging from what she could see behind the black mask. His eyes were a pale blue with sharp pupils, staring right through her and apparently through the whole ship to the core of Remnant.

"Collect your team and go. I will manage this." The man growled at her. The voice vibrating within her chest and waking her up while numbing the pain. She didn't even question his authority. She was witnessing sheer power.

He got up and the beast immediately became more tentative. It acknowledged him as a threat between itself and it's prey, as it shuffled from side to side to catch a glimpse of Mary, who clambered to her feet.

She called the three remaining soldiers to her side, Jameson carrying Dietz's body in a fireman's grip, while the four armed beast was occupied with the newly arrived opponent.

A rope fell down the hatch and one after another, October team hooked in and were pulled up, Mary staying for last, mesmerized by the sight before her.

The dark fabric of the coat, seemed barely enough to contain it's inhabitant. Not physically, as it was impeccably fitted to his form, but from the energy he emitted. Every step was laden with aggression as he drove the alien monstrosity back with his sheer presence. The undead had long vanished, scared away by the fierce implication that scared even Mary.

The beast lunged into nothing as the man stepped aside while simultaneously withdrawing a ridiculously long sword, much too long to be hidden, from his coat and swung it, with a two handed grip at the thing, before it vanished again into thin air.

It screamed as one of it's extremities was chopped clean of and fell to the floor. Luminous blood sprayed the wall and the man, but he didn't pay it any mind as he stepped back and crouched slightly for the next attack.

Any trace if fear that the monster might have had was now gone. As it charged the dark silhouette of the newcomer who had crippled it, it let out a fearsome howl that reverberated in the bowels of the entire ship, before it, snapping it's beak, stomped again on the man.

Dust and sparks flew and hindered any clear sight at the result of the attack. Mary held her breath and glanced at the rope. All her teammates were accounted for and exfiltrated, but she was nailed to the floor. She would not be able to go, before she knew what happened to the thing, who had killed one of her's and the stranger who had saved her.

A soulshattering screech came from the cold metallic mist. One that left Mary's hair standing up straight and her bowels turn. Within the clearing mist was the stranger, clothed and standing on two feet like a person, but otherwise indistinguishable from an animal. He snarled still as the smoke dissipated, the attacking limb of the monster split down the middle like a tree struck by lightning, blood pooling on the ground.

Then he attacked. One moment he was there, a blink of an eye later he was on the four armed beast, materialising and dematerialising blades out if thin air to take the thing apart and sometimes ripping into it's flesh with his bare hands.

A savage style to kill, like a rabid dog. The thing didn't manage throw the stranger off of it and grew more and more sluggish in it's movements. One of the remaining three (two intact) legs was kneeling, while the other swiped at the killer in a futile attempt to do some damage.

In a way it was a pitiful sight as the stranger stood in front of the crippled monstrosity, it's remaining eyes whipping around in fear and the kneeling leg pushing it farther away from this... nightmare of a man.

A hunter for the wolf.

A monster and a god.

One last time the thing lashed out, only to have it's strike parried with the blast of an ornate double barreled shotgun. It didn't have time to reorient itself as he dashed forward and buried his arm to the shoulder in it's flesh, before ripping it out, taking a large organ with him, which pumped one last time before dying in his hand, where it was crushed and vanished.

The thing collapsed in a heap of spiderlike limbs, tentacles and blood.

He looked at her, blood still dripping from his hat. A worn tricorn with a piece missing at the back. It was ancient but it fit him. Almost a full minute of mutual staring passed. Mary was unable to move, to think. The sheer animalistic strength that had followed her brush with death and her first encounter with the anomalous, had made her mind go into a secure state. Working at minimum capacity to avoid becoming insane. Still, what happened next would be something she could never forget.

"Show me your arm, my dear." The fatherly, deep voice inquired and she obeyed. With practiced ease, he cut open the uniform to take a look at the broken appendage. From the outside, the upper arm looked relatively fine, aside from the noticeable indentation, where the two parts of bone had separated.

"This might sting a little." He warned her, but she was calm. She trusted this man entirely and only whinced a little as he took her upper arm in both hands and pressed, putting the bone exactly back together with precision which would require surgery elsewhere. A warmth filled her arm, then her shoulder and her bosom, before it stretched out into her entire body. With embarrassment, she noticed her own body misinterpreting the feeling as her cheeks lit up in arousal, all while still standing on a battleground, a freshly broken bone on her, a dead beast behind the stranger who was treating her and a dead comrade abover her on the airship.

"Don't be ashamed." The stranger droned on with a smile. He had removed the mask somehow, without taking his hands from her arm.

"It is natural to feel like this during the procedure. If you want, I can stop. The bone is almost healed though."

She shook her head and left him to continue. The feeling washed over her and soon ebbed away as he removed his hands and instructed her, not to strain the arm to much, until the soreness had vanished.

"Who are you?" She asked as she came to her senses again and hooked herself into the cable for extraction.

"I am called the Good Hunter." He answered in his soothing voice.

"I will not tell you more right now. But if you need to find out, my dream is always open to those who seek."

The wire began to pull her up and he stepped forward, still on eye level with her. "But don't enter the nightmare, that is not how it works."

She was now high above him. Sunlight engulfed her, but her gaze was fixed on the Hunter below, down the hatch, where he turned and readied a cruel sawtoothed cleaver and a large pistol. The voice still as clear as if he was standing right next to her.

"The nightmare comes to them."


	6. Der Traum des Jägers

**A.N. Writing is the most fun and the most promising with feedback. I am slowly steering towards the more significant portions of my story. Comment if you like the stuff I produce. Also comment if you don't**.

 **Also give me suggestions if you have ideas. Even if it's just details. I plan to include the break action shotgun further, maybe even make it the Hunter's weapon of choice.**

 **Also, whoever knows what Kelevra means, consider yourself high fived my me.**

Mary Decker had trouble opening her eyes, but she forced them. She was a heavy sleeper, which meant that whatever nightmares haunted her nights, she had to endure. This seemed like one of them. On first glance.

Countless headstones rimmed the short but confusingly curved path to the hut in the fog. The branches of the mourning willows hung low and made the relatively luxurious space seem narrow and dark.

She braced for the pain as she propped herself up, but the sensation didn't come. Her arms and ribs seemed perfectly fine. In fact, she felt not the smallest bit of discomfort while she lifted the hospital gown to pat down her torso and squeezed the spot on her arm where she very clearly remembered the unnatural deformation of broken bone. A quick look to the ground revealed that she was sitting on a humble cot. Comfortable but spare in design, a few planks carefully nailed together, nothing more.

A high pitched noise, like a kettles discharge crept into her ears from a distance away while she still regarded her environment. It was as if it came closer to her on one ear and in one moment and went farther away in the other.

She stood up to investigate and out of reflex her hand fell to her upper leg where her handgun was usually holstered. Surprised she found that the pistol was there, somehow found a way into her hand, but she wouldn't complain. This whole experience was strange and an extra layer of protection seldom killed someone, especially since she was practically naked, safe for the gown.

She drew the weapon and started to move, the pistol held leisurely but readily in front of her. The noise was slowly vanishing as she crossed the space, but was replaced by bassy, soft humming of a male voice. The willows on both sides seemed to guide her somehow. A look behind her revealed an almost closed wall of hanging branches, while the trees in front of her were leading her towards the back of the house.

She felt the grass crunch beneath her feet as she steeped close to the wall of the cottage and crept toward the corner, her gun raised. The place was well kept, but the numerous headstones made it difficult for her to appreciate the serene beauty and the... almost complete silence.

She hadn't noticed before, but she only heard the song behind the house and her own steps. There ware no birdcalls, no critters among the roots, or even wind blowing into her ears. It was dead silent.

She leaned around the corner and regarded the new space over her iron sights. There was a rocking chair, still moving slightly in front of a small table. A set of wineglasses and an uncorked bottle stood there as well as a thin book, which was bound shut with leather straps and another, still chair. Confirming to herself that this side of the house was clear, she stepped around the corner and approached the lounging assembly. The glasses were clean, but the odor from the bottle was tempting. As was the empty chair across from the table, like a silent offer to sit down for a while and enjoy peace. She almost lowered her gun.

"Please. Take a seat." The voice. How did he manage to sneak up on her? He was right beside her, leisurely picking up the winebottle and sniffing, before pouring a modest amount in each glass. She had moved on instinct, turned, aimed and pulled the trigger.

Her reward was a dry click, as the hammer struck solid metal.

It was unmistakably the same man she had encountered on the U332. The same height, the same voice, the same lean build. He wasn't wearing his coat now, or his mask, or his hat. Instead he stood there, clad in a modest attire of black slacks, a tidy black vest and white dress-shirt. A pair of belts was slung around his chest and a third snaked around his right upper leg. From a chain, protruding from his vestpocket, hung a myriad of silver pendants. A silver sword, a steel wheel, a black crow spreading it's wings and some more.

He put his hand on the barrel of her pistol and gently pushed it down. Normally, Mary would have stepped back and resisted, but she felt it was useless here, now, with him. Unneeded. Futile.

"Good." He hummed, the voice reverberating in her chest. "Right, the upper lip. A kill shot if the angle was right. The off-switch, how ruthless."

She nodded, it was how she was trained.

"Marines." He continued. "Very similar, everywhere." He put up his arms and bent his back forward, assuming a mock firing position. His hands held an imaginary rifle and Mary thought his stance was odd, too perfect.

"One... two... three. One, two, three. Onetwothree!" He mimicked firing at three targets in the distance. "Always the spearhead. First to go, last to leave, isn't that right?"

She nodded again and he gestured again for her to take a seat and this time, she obeyed.

"Are you feeling alright?" He asked with genuine concern as he himself took a seat in the rocking chair across from her and took his glass to swirl the dark red in it. She looked at him, her useless pistol still in her hand. A light breeze got caught in her short, hazel hair and blew a strand in her face. The willows rustled and she realised that she had lost focus. The man had been staring back at her the whole time, with pale glaciers for eyes that bored into the back of her head and a smile that seemed as if it was about to vanish.

"Where am I?" She felt silly for asking for some reason. As if it was supposed to be obvious, but she had never seen a place like this before. He took a slow sip from his glass and tasted carefully. When he spoke again, the voice was strange. Distant, but somehow crystal clear, as if she was remembering it right now.

"As to where you are, you are at this moment on board of the air-cruiser A.A.S. Hammer. I was told it is the flagship of one of the atlesian fleets. A remarkable structure, truly. But of course you know about it yourself. Right now, while it's batteries are occupied with destroying the derelict U332, you are enjoying a deep, anaesthetics induced rest in the ship's infirmary wards."

He raised the glass against his lips again, appreciating the taste like he did before.

"So, am I dreaming?"

He grinned, like a child who had managed to pull an elaborate prank on it's parents and snapped the fingers of his free hand.

"That is exactly what you are doing, my dear." He placed the glass on the table and stood up, gesturing slightly towards their shared environment.

"This, is the Hunter's Dream. And I dare to say, I am proud of what it has become since my own arrival. What it is exactly, is impossible for me to explain to you, but it is a place of near unlimited usefulness."

"Since _your_ arrival?" She asked, while he took a step into the tall grass that covered the field behind the house, up to a hill, where a lone, ancient oak towered over the whole scene. She stood up too.

"If I am asleep, isn't it supposed to be my dream? How can you have made all this?"

He turned towards her, now waist deep in the grass and just continued smiling, though for a split second she saw the beast flickering through. The thing that she had seen on the U332, but it was gone again when he opened his mouth.

"I am with you, Mary Anne Decker. I am with you since you were born and I have never been gone. When people sleep, they can come here, among the headstones and I do my best to watch over them." He turned again, his hands brushing over the tips of the blades.

"It is one of the few things that never get dull, you know? People have such wonderful imagination, especially the poets, the artists and the little ones. Very frightening at times, but almost never the same." He looked back at her and held his hand out, beckoning her to follow him. So she stepped into the tall grass, surprised by how soft the blades were. As if they were made of silk and fleece at the same time and they clung to her, tickling her thighs.

"So in a way, yes. This is _your_ Hunter's Dream, but at the same time, this dream is under my jurisdiction and protection. You were here countless times, but to see it as it is, requires an invitation. Though I can make it my dream and in death, it is always mine."

She didn't bother to ask what he meant by this.

They had reached the giant oak and Mary found herself beside him, standing on a steep hill that overlooked the whole place. On one side, she saw the field of grass, the small house and the forest of mourning willows that covered the other half of the graveyard. On the other side, she looked above a tall, wrought iron fence, with a sturdy gate, that locked one section off from the rest of this... _dream._

Behind the gate lay, what must have been an expansive flower field before. White petals and sometimes a few intact flowerheads peaked through a hellish cratered landscape. The ground was split and had produced more than one narrow valleys that seemed to reach down dozens of meters. Hundreds of holes of different size dotted the earth, witnesses and evidence of powerful impacts that must have shaken the foundation of this entire place.

And behind it, a vast sea of white mist. The fog covering the world to the horizon, with only a few ruined columns here and there jutting out like dead and torched trees, pointing upwards to where the shattered moon of Remnant hung in the sky, but larger and seemingly impossibly near. The rims of the wound through the celestial body were covered in dark red, almost purple and suddenly Mary thought she could tell the pungent odour from down where she stood.

Blood.

"I have not been around enough to take care of this particular spot yet." She heard him from below. He had descended the hill and stood now before the gate. He raised his hand at the heavy lock and tapped it with his finger, to which it just disappeared in a small cloud of grey-blue vapour. The gate opened on it's own, with one wing getting caught in some dirt that must have been piled up from one of the smaller craters.

He ignored it and just stepped around the door, Mary closely behind him. Just now she saw the humble headstone that stood proudly on the end of a rectangular patch of freshly dug earth. A big one. She looked at her host and noticed for the first time that he towered over her by at least fourty centimetres, maybe even more. She held her breath as she looked back at the grave.

 _Gabriel Dieter_

 _2023 - 2044_

 _"Deep below the light,_

 _but not yet swallowed by the Dark."_

"As you said, it is your dream. This place here is a place of mourning. I suspect Mr. Dieter is victin of my timing."

"He was killed by this... thing."

"Yog-Thenoth. An ancient race of slave-soldiers. Supposed to sleep, deep below the ocean ground."

"Whatever!" She snapped, but calmed back down immediately. "This thing killed him. Without you, all of us would be dead."

There was a moment of tense silence in which she stepped towards the grave and silently spoke a short prayer, which she had heard Dietz utter once. It felt appropriate to ask for his safe travel to the afterlife, now that he didn't have the chance himself anymore.

"Why am I here?" She whispered, well aware that the Good Hunter would hear her. And answer her.

"You chose to come here. I can come into your mind and interpret what I am seeing, but the truth, the truth is barred for everyone but you. So actually, it would be my turn to ask you..."

She turned around, surprised to see him so close to her, as he regarded her with these eyes of his, until they stopped on her own.

"... why are you here?"

/

Blake Belladonna was an attentive young woman. Enhanced even more by her faunus traits, namely a sharper sense of smell, hearing and vision, as well as heightened instincts, she was able to sense things that others couldn't. It was what had made her such a formidable covert operative in her time with the White Fang. It was also what screamed at her to melt into the background whenever _he_ showed up.

Ruby and Yang (but mostly Ruby) had been trying to establish some kind of round-table-conversation between all of team RWBY, Qrow, Maria, Emerald and Mercury, but thankfully the venture had started to lose everyone's interest as Weiss was getting angry at Qrow's rowdy antics, Maria was obviously playing with him and Emerald and Mercury were still not trusting anyone outside of Johannes and Maria. Calling the situation strange was an understatement.

She had just established a spot for herself on a nearby bench, when Weiss started yelling and Qrow started becoming sarcastic. Phrases like 'uncivilized imbecilic troglodyte' and 'spoiled brat' filled the air, so she tuned out and instead focused on the feeling of the Hunter coming closer and closer.

And closer.

She looked around, but couldn't find him. To not fall out of the loop, she listened to Weiss calling Qrow a 'heap of wasted potential' and Ruby trying to calm them down.

"BOTH OF YOU! SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Blake whinced. That had been Yang. The echoing slap had been her hand colliding with the back of Qrow's head, the whimpering was him apologizing. Obviously drunk. Well, he hadn't expected meeting his nieces here, but for a first impression, this definitely sucked. Now it was Yang and Ruby, standing a bit apart from the others, giving Qrow a lecture, while Maria had taken Weiss' arm and tried to stop her from seething. Blake hadn't paid enough attention to know what Qrow had said, but she knew that the heiress' fuse was awfully short at times. Especially now that they were on a mission without a clear goal, with a man who spoke in riddles and a woman who was not much less cryptic. At least Maria was good, light hearted company otherwise. When Johannes was in the mood to talk, discussions with him drifted often into dark and existential waters.

Exactly this was a point where Blake was unsure of what she felt. She had met enough foul souls to know when to trust the feeling in her gut. When she had the feeling that someone was out to get her, she got them earlier. If she felt someone was dangerous, she stayed out of their way and most recently, she had stopped answering Sun's frequent messages, because she had feared that he was slowly becoming obsessive, or maybe the mask was falling off.

However this instinct had almost wrenched her insides apart and intrigued her more than almost anything at the same time. Had she obeyed the feeling in her stomach, she would have fled the continent after her first meeting with the Good Hunter. Yet the intrigue was winning and the unsettling emotions were becoming weaker and weaker. Fear was vanishing in the shadow of wonder and safety and it felt good.

It felt good to walk with someone who would reassure her that she wouldn't need to run from the Fang anymore. Who would be able to explain to her, why her successes were so small and why that was okay. Someone who would keep her from being lonely, just by explaining to her how to be alone. There were a lot of questions she had for the Good Hunter and time after time, she had promised herself to scout for a short moment when she could be alone with him and speak in private.

The blood rose to her cheeks when she remembered the dream she had a few nights ago. Of her lying in bed, curled up, comfortable, but she wasn't alone. Moonlight fell through the window and illuminated parts of the bed. Her arm draped over the lean torso, crossed with scars, but covered in muscle, tuned for flawless effectiveness. She remembered her fingers dancing over the pale skin and the smile that crossed her face as the strong arm she had rested her head on, moved and slid her closer to the warmth.

"It is late. Sleep." The voice was deep and a bit raspy. Still it reverberated through her abdomen and made her shiver.

"Maybe I have other plans for you." She whispered into the ear above her. Nothing happened for a moment, until the entire body next to her, now perfectly illuminated by the moon, turned over towards her. The other arm, slender but equally strong, scooped her towards his chest.

She heard the steady breath, felt the gentle pressure and all of a sudden, the heat washed all over her and expanded through her entire body. He was right, now it was time to sleep. They still had time later.

"- maybe remembering a dream of sorts?"

Blake almost jumped from the bench, her hands clutching her chest, where her heart had started pounding with what felt like a million beats per minute. Johannes was sitting next to her, regarding her and the scene before them respectively. If the memory of the dream had made her blush, then she was beet red now.

"W-what? What about dreams?"

"You looked far away, so I thought maybe she is remembering a dream. Hopefully one of comfort." He regarded her with a look, but the adrenaline made Blake fast enough to follow his eyes.

Her hands, her eyes, her shoulders and her chest. She was pretty sure that this was not gawking. She was pretty sure that he now knew her exact heartrate and that her hands were sweating. His smile made her fear that he knew exactly what she thought, without even looking for it. She always tried to be as reserved as possible, so when she was flustered, she didn't really have a protocol to fall back on.

"A dream, a good one, is most of the time a reflection of our desires, of our fears, or both. It does not necessarily show what is best for you, but instead what your spirits can imagine to be the most perfect salvation from your agony." He leaned back, so that his posture was more or less aligned with hers. Blake saw Cinder walking past her, towards her companions, a questioning look on her face.

"Would you like my advice?" She nodded.

"The war is over, yet you refuse to use the time of peace. The time of the White Fang is running out." It didn't even shock her that he knew... and talked so casually about it.

"When you're not being hunted anymore, you will face the tranquil life of a huntress." He smiled to himself.

/

"I... don't really know. I guess I needed to know more." Decker answered tentatively. The Good Hunter still tried to stare holes into her skull and somehow she felt like it worked. Something tugged on the corner of his lips and somehow his look became even darker.

"Knowledge, my dear lady, is a dangerous thing. But I wouldn't have suggested the dream to you if I suspected you to be a coward."

Mary thought back to the U332. The cramped interiors, lack of light, and the subsequent horrors she had witnessed, would plague her sleep for the coming years. It still felt like Dieter died mere moments ago, smashed by an alien creature that would have slaughtered her and her other comrades too. Oh, she had been afraid. Very afraid. But more than that, she had felt disgust and anger. She had accepted to be smashed and eaten by the monstrosity that the Good Hunter called Yog-Thenoth, so all she had retained in her mind was the desire to make it bleed.

"It had to die." She almost whispered. His gaze was no longer fixed on her, but was again directed at the misty abyss before them. When he spoke, his voice betrayed a slight of amusement.

"The crust of Remnant harbors uncountable dark secrets." Vague images of fire filled her mind.

"There is war now, Ms. Decker. I would like to have soldiers for it."

/

"Learn to trust your teammates. They're your family now. And probably sooner than later, you will find this world to be much more welcoming than it seemed before." The low droning of his voice was soothing to the young faunus woman. It calmed her senses more than fatigue or the occasional week of routine managed to gift her. Maybe, if she stayed close to the man, peace was a real, obtainable possibility.

She didn't see the broad grin that cut across the Hunter's visage.

/

"At war? With who?" Mary's inquiry was low, but she knew he would hear her.

"With old forces. Awoken to lay waste to the people who inhabit this world now."

"That's vague."

"We could spend days educating you in the finer aspects of the enemy's. Years in this plane's twisted perception of time. I was always an advocate of the sentiment that practice is the most valuable teacher." He turned and wandered back through the field, towards the lounging assembly with the table that still housed the glasses with dark swirling substance. She watched as the blades of grass seemed to part gently before his step and close flawlessly when he had advanced far enough.

"Your resolve is steadfast. I've witnessed it first hand."

/

"There is an admirable strength in all of you. Miss Rose, Miss Xiao Long and Miss Schnee. Miss Fall and her companions have embraced death in coming for me. It is the greatest burden and most glorious luxury you have. The ability to chose, even if it only affects oneself."

It was impossible from this angle for Blake to see Johannes' face, but his word carried a genuine warmth which she jad not experienced often. Much less from strangers. Adam Taurus had given her a feeling of value. It had turned out her value was that of a useful tool and a weapon. Johannes was not like that, she was sure.

/

"I want to give you the ability to choose freely. While I would appreciate your trust, you are of course, equally entitled to refuse and walk away."

"With a catch I presume." She had by now caught up to him in the tall grass, even though his strides were long.

"No catch. No strings attached... well, apart from the sincerity that this conflict will come over Remnant, no matter what. My own expedition so far has failed to prevent that, regrettably."

"And you would need me to do what exactly? Follow you and kill anything you point at?"

He laughed like water crashing from a waterfall. It chilled her, but their environment made it seem less frightening. This was a dream, after all.

"You are a soldier, Ms. Decker. You fight. You will hold the terrors at bay that will sweep over the land. You will contain the symptoms, together with hundreds of thousands of others.

I am a Hunter, my dear, I _kill._ "

Mary didn't fail to notice the way he reinforced that word and neither did she doubt him. The way he carried himself was refined and practical and what she remembered from their encounter in the submarine, served as evidence of his lethality.

"How?" He sent her a questioning look as an answer.

"I wasn't able to put a scratch on that yog... whatever, back in the sub. How would I fight a war against more of those things?"

"Oh, you will face much more impressive adversaries my dear. But if you are ready to face these odds with only a question of 'how', martial prowess will be the least of your problems. Strength can be augmented with the right equipment." He chuckled, before standing up, looking at Mary expectantly. It was jarring how her perceivable image of the man shifted in seconds. One moment she faced a foreboding facette that prophesied bloodshed, the next he behaved very human, even excited as he bid her to stand up and follow him into the small house.

"I have been dying to see this." He exclaimed as he pressed both slender hands against the, for such a hut uncharacteristically heavy double doors and eased the wings apart, revealing entire, unpenetrable darkness.

To her question if he didn't know what was inside, he answered that he knew what was inside. He just didn't know how it was inside _her_ dream.

They stepped inside and she noticed that they stepped on snow. It was cold, but even though her feet were bare, it was not unpleasant. Rather a reminder to her childhood, when she had enjoyed the fresh scent of the eternal winter's morning's and the vast landscapes stretching beneath their house in Atlas.

She stepped forward, but was halted by the Hunter's hand. In the pale blueish twilight of the open door, she recognized the black metal torch he was offering her with the other hand. She took it and stared slightly as the black material that seemed to swallow all light around it, became lighter until it reflected her face in the gleaming silver it had become.

"Light it." He advised, amusement swinging in his tone.

She raised her hand towards the top of the torch and instinctively snapped her fingers, to which the crown of the thing erupted in a clear, white light that threatened to blind her at first, but she adjusted quickly.

The room was alight as if the sun had breached the roof.

She held her breath.

/

"I am done running." Blake exclaimed firmly after an extended silence. She didn't know why, she didn't know how, but a fierce determination had taken hold of her. Her whole life, since she had bid her parents farewell in Menagerie and joined Adam in his strife for equality, she had been running from something. Her own insecurities, her family and finally, tangibly, the White Fang, who definitely wanted her head on a pike.

She felt tired, pent up and angry. But this anger was directed. Someone out there was planning the end of the world, as far as she knew and wether she entirely chose it or not, she was on a path against it. She had not chosen against it. Actively, despite her guts saying otherwise. She was on a collision course and it felt inevitable and good.

Johannes turned towards her, eyes a pale, piercing blue, centered by pure nothingness. A smile cut his face in half, familiar by now but still menacing. But she was not afraid anymore. She wanted to hold onto this feeling of being the one in charge, one who held her own strings.

She noticed that she had been slowly grinding her teeth as anger, more potent than any amphetamine washed through her bloodstream. Her eyes whipped to the Hunter. He opened his mouth.

"Check your gear. Clean your weapon. Tell the others to be ready.

She nodded and hurried away. Her blade would glean in the red moonlight.

/

"Kill it."

It was not a suggestion or a hint. It was a command. The amusement from moments ago washed away with the light as she lay her eyes on the thing before her.

Elongated, hairy limbs fell from hunched shoulders. Eyeless sockets stared at her as an inhuman snarl escaped on of the many maws, lined with pointed, jagged teeth. The stench was foul, not unlike rotting meat, which would explain why the fur lay matted against the thin, translucent membrane that might have once been skin.

Mary pulled her gaze from the abomination and frantically looked around the empty room. The Hunter was gone, not even footprints left where he had stood.

It lunged. She stepped aside, letting it crash into one of the walls and clamber back to it's feet, giving her an additional moment to think.

Her dream, her rules. She needed a weapon, but the dream didn't obey her anymore. It took her a moment to grasp why. This was not her dream anymore, it was his. This was his doing. She would die, she was sure, because of him. First he saved her life, then he fed her to his pet-monster in her subconscious. Anger surged up inside her, slowly pushing away the fear and confusion. The thing ran at her again, claws throwing up snow and wooden splinters in it's wake. Not today.

She sidestepped again and caught it's ugly skull in her arms. It was weaker than she had thought, also lighter, more fragile. It struggled nevertheless and swiped one claw across her thigh, where it carved straight through skin and muscle, missing the bone just narrowly. She screamed, dark red blood sprayed on the white, untarnished snow.

Her arm was still tightly slung around the creatures neck, it's mawed head snappin in several directions but never connecting, while she used her free arm and fist to start beating it against the bulbous forehead. It was weak, she was stronger. She felt it crack under her blows. She felt another claw embedding itself into her abdomen, tearing through her stomach. She coughed blood. Her insides where being cut to pieces. She was dying.

She screamed again, tightening her grip around the feeble neck and renewing her assault on the horrifying abomination. Dizziness crept into her head, no doubt the result of the pain and bloodloss, but she was angry, furious, betrayed. One last punch sent her fist through the weakened skull and into a mess of semi-liquid tissue, where once a brain might have been.

The thing collapsed under her and she rolled off, clasping her abdomen and crawling backwards until she hit a wall. It had been a test. Of course. But what now? There was no coming back from this. Even though this was just a dream, she felt her life slipping away, felt her consciousness fade into pure, unfiltered nothingness. This was death. Had she failed?

Heavy steps crunched in the snow next to her. A dark silhouette knelt down and a pair of pale blue eyes shone at her like laserlights. The face parted, showing of rows after rows of serrated, razorsharp teeth, that mirrored the snow in their white purity. Hands snaked under her arms and lifted her gently upwards into a close embrace. His breath was warm and smelled of morning rain. His hair soft, as it brushed against her ear.

One of the Hunter's arms held her tight, slightly caressing her back, while the other wandered to her chest, somehow slipping through the fabric and stopping just below the valley of her breast. He looked at her eyes, madness and indescribable clarity at the same time.

"I never had a choice." She whispered feebly, as her forehead bumped against his. He softly shook his head.

"You had... you chose." He whispered back, just before he pushed his hand through her body, covering both of them in more blood.

Then it became dark.

/

"Sir! The man who came to see you has just killed Lieutenant Decker!"

Ironwood whirled around, staring at the gasping armsman who had obviously been sprinting here to tell him this. He was fighting to get air into his lungs. There was obviously something more he needed to say.

"Calm down, sailor."

"He has them pinned, sir! The whole response team! I wasn't able to activate any of the alarms! They're shut off."

As if to undermine his claim, the red claxons on the bridge began to light up and the general alarm started.

"Where is he?" The general all but screamed over the blaring sirens.

"The sickbay! We engaged him in front of Decker's room, sir!"

That was all Ironwood needed. Fury amassed below his professionalism, but he supressed it and pushed past the armsman, who immediately cocked his gun and fell in line behind him and his two personal guards. Ironwood knew where to go as he weaved through the narrow metal corridors of the Hammer, dodging personnel and nimbly climbing ththrough doors.

They passed the living quartes and the general waved towards a large group of marines in bulky blue armor. His unit, the "Regulators" as they were called. They didn't need motivation or answers. Only orders and a target.

"Sir?" Their leader asked as they fell in step with the general and the other three.

"Our 'guest'-" Ironwood spat the word like it was something toxic. "-has assaulted and killed a survivor of the boarding teams. I want him detained if possible, dead if necessary." His orders were absolute, unquestionable, like they always were in situations like this. Combat was his nature. Always calm and collected when he rained hell on his foes, or let the wolves off their leash.

The leader nodded and barked orders to the Regulators. A deafening 'Hoahh!' was his answer before the soldiers stormed forward, towards the sickbay.

The general and the other three arrived a few minutes later. As they turned the second to last corner to their destination, his two guards moved in front of him and snapped up their rifles, advancing smoothly towards the last junction, where two Regulators peered around the corner, their rifles ready.

"Four coming up." One of the guards warned as they closed in on the elite soldiers, who acknowledged them with a quick handsign. Ironwood tapped one of their shoulders.

"Sitrep." He demanded. No smell of fired dust yet. This was a good sign. The Regulators would have done what was necessary without hesitation.

"Target down the hall, twenty-five meters. No trace of the victim or the response team. Ther is some kind of perimeter which we can't cross."

"Perimeter?"

"Forcefield or something, sir. Never seen something like this."

This was becoming even more complicated.

"Demands?"

The soldier shook his head. "No sir. He has been silent."

Overdramatic and unnecessarily enigmatic. Just how he remembered the man. But the death of one of his soldiers was something he would not forgive.

"I'll talk to him. Alone." This last part was meant for his guards, who just nodded and stepped aside, to make room for the officer. "Be ready to light him up."

General Ironwood stepped forward. Left and right, the narrow hallway was filled with stacked up soldiers, their rifles aimed at the man at the end. The murderer. He was lounging in a chair that he had placed outside the bedroom in which Decker had been brought, the flaps of his coat falling right and left from his hip and the flickering light above him foing nothing more than bathing him in even more darkness than he already emitted.

Every step towards him became more and more taxing. His knees began to shiver before he even knew why, but he stood fast. There was still time to make an estimate. Still time to mold the plan, even though he knew that this... man in front of him, knew of everything.

He stopped. The hunter didn't even react as Ironwood's hand fell to the heavy caliber revolver holstered on his hip.

Wait, he did. His head shifted ever so slightly and his coat trembled for a short moment. A low clicking noise. The Hunter had cocked his own weapon. The general's thoughts raced wildly as he planted his boots more firmly on the ground. It was troublesome to straighten his back, but it was possible. His eyes met his.

"What is the meaning of this?" Ironwood hissed under the strain. Whatever vile magic he was being influenced with, it would not stop him from pursuing justice.

"You will not like the answer." Came the reply, in this paradoxically raspy and at the same time smooth voice. He wasn't masked right now. At least a sma glimmer of hope. It meant that the Hunter was not expecting bloodshed.

"Answer." Ironwood commanded, to which the Hunter sighed and shifted again in his seat, revealing the black, angular handgun in his grip, the finger on the frame, the hammer cocked.

"Why have you killed her?" The general almost bellowed now. His fingers were trembling. "First you save her life and then you murder her!?" Unmitigated rage.

The Hunter didn't flinch. Instead he let go of the weapon and Ironwood watched it dissolve into blueish grey mist. More sorcery. He stood up, the black coat swaying slightly, the metal chair behind him creaking under the invisible force, before being crushed flat to the ground.

"I recruited her. It was her choice. She should have figured it out by now."

"Recruited how? Like Maria?" There was some hope in the general's voice. He didn't knew lieutenant Decker himself, but at his core, he wanted people to be happy. He would suffer so the people could be happy.

"No." The Hunter's eyes sharpened at the mention of the blonde woman. Not a chance. Fear was making itself noticeable on the edge of his psyche.

"Like I was recruited myself."

Silence. Then steps. Another dark figure eemerged from the bedroom behind him, clad in black fatigues, light boots and black tactical gear. There was a reason that the Atlesian army wore white and stark colours. They were a police force too, people needed to trust them.

Hunter's, he remembered from the friendly and talkative girl he knew as Maria, were not a peacekeeping force. Not interested in the people's inquiries.

Killers of both man and beast.

"Lieutenant Decker?"

She looked at him. Pale eyes stared at him, then flicked around, assessing his entire form, lingering on the gun at his hip.

"This won't be necessary." She motioned towards his weapon. Her voice was still weak, but the resolve was there. She continued.

"I regret to be requesting this, sir. But I need you to release me from your command."

Silence again. Only the far away clatter of the rifles still aimed at the trio. Finally, after a lot of thinking and looking between the two, Ironwood decided. She had died in that submarine. What she had seen, he didn't know, but he had survived something similar. Long ago in that accursed forest.

Back then he had trusted Johannes and his protegé. He would have to trust them again. He trusted Decker. Her eyes had something fierce. Resolve, fire. Who was he to take that away?

"Granted." He sighed, watching her turn around and move back into the bedroom. A small chime of a bell signalled the last time he would be seeing her for a long time. Johannes stayed behind. The pressure lifted.

"You better watch out for her." The Hunter did not laugh at his request as he would have expected. He was unpredictable in a way he never had been fond of. Instead, his relaxed features hardened slightly, giving him a grim appearance.

"Who stands with me, will never stand alone."

Ironwood just nodded.

/

 _"Well it seems that the weather couldn't get any better. However, today's closing story is brought to you by Lisa Hinnam. Lisa, if you would?"_

 _"Thank you Tom._

 _Unexplained occurences, weird happenings and eery rumors. We on Remnant are not easy to surprise when it comes to the mysterious. However over the last few days, unconfirmed reports and hearsays have been amassing. Eyewitnesses claim to have seen strange things, ranging from shady loitering persons, to straight up murders. Sadly, occurrences such as this are not uncommon today, but what ties them all together is the strange tale of a masked man in a black coat, who has otherwise only been described as 'uncanny'._

 _Some people tell of this man just scouting out seemingly random locations, while others claim to have witnessed bloody executions performed by him. Many of the victims referenced, where convicted criminals or suspected allies with the notorious terrorist organisation known as the White Fang._

 _Dangerous vigilante or just escalating hearsays? Even though all the information we have about this enigmatic individual boil down to mere speculation, the valean authorities have announced rewards for evidence which leads to the identification of the person._

 _An official description reads: male, pale skin, estimable height between 1,80 and 2 meters and of slim build. He is probably wearing a black coat and a black neckwrap._

 _Information can be reported to any valean police station, but be advised, the individual is most likely heavily armed and highly dangerous."_

 _"Thank you Lisa. Now: The northern exclusion zone - a documentary by..."_


	7. Todesschwadron

**a.n. Yo. I know it has been a while and I know the story is still slow, but I have opened a lot of story... things, whith which I have no idea what to do with them. I _have_ made it now though. I have been able to segway this weird dormant part into the next "phase" (ominous). Don't be disappointed because of all the OCs in this chapter. The next one will be more cast-centric.**

 **I would like to thank everyone who reads this and who made comments and kept me motivated with their kind words.**

Todesschwadron

Ruby had a nightmare. Not her usual ones, the ones where her mother went off to another hunt, just for Qrow to come back and breaking the news to her father. Not about her father almost collapsing in the hallway, his eyes wide in shock. He, they, they had always known that this could happen, but not to her, to them. It had happened to others and they had visited the funerals, comforted the families and took care of things when they, the others couldn't.

But they'd have never thought it would happen to them.

Yeah, it was not a nightmare like that. This was completely different. She was not even sure why it was a nightmare.

She was standing on a cliff, on one of the wide shore's jagged teeth that the tides had carved over millions of years and looked upon the sea. She was alone, with only the blasting winds to break the silence. No birds, no fish, no deer in the treeline behind her. It was uncanny.

The cyclopic nature of the masses of water before her, crashing over itself on the sharp rocks below, while forming a perfectly even plane, just a few hundred meters away, it reminded her of something. Maybe someone?

But she was sure it was a nightmare, lucid as she was right now, she saw the wrongness in the environment. Trees behind her that seemed to change their place, rocks lifting off ground, just in the corner of her eye, just to lay still whenever she looked, but worst of all: the black fog that was slowly amassing at the horizon and was so appalling to her, yet she could not turn away for long as it steadily crawled towards her.

Then, voices. Strange tongues whispered all around, beckoning her to do unspeakable things, while others enforced the opposite, appealing to her reason and timid side. It was no battle, she was kind hearted at her core, but she could understand if others broke here.

A rough voice shouted orders among the millions, while others whimpered and others protested. Hundreds of thousands shouted and screamed in approval of the commands, while equal numbers screamed death to it.

She hadn't even noticed the smoke come closer, it crept so slow it seemed, but that was just because it had been unfathomably far away. Now it was not. She knew it was useless to run, even if her legs would carry her, or her semblance. The fog was around her in an instant, blocking her vision and making her see things. She thought a face was racing by, made of the black mass and disembodied.

The voices rose up to a thundering storm of whispers, shouts, screams and cries. It tore at her mind, tested her sanity and she had to keep chanting to herself, silently. "I am Ruby Rose, this is a dream. I am Ruby Rose, this is a dream. I am..."

It seemed to carry on for hours, before, suddenly, a current rose around her. A wind that blew all the thick, black smoke away or... pulled it towards something in the distance. For the first time in the dream, Ruby could move. It was a feeling of liberation, of freedom to be able to steer herself just this one bit, while all around her, her mind seemed to crumble away under the slowly lessening cacophony of voices.

Then the drums came. Or so she thought. Booming noises grew to a constant staccato of what she realized where the discharges of uncountable artillery pieces, rolling slowly towards her from beyond the horizon which came slowly back into view.

It was just a small dot at first, the point where the fog seemed to be sucked into a fine split in reality... dream, before it grew, nourished by the dark abyss racing towards it. After some time, she was able to discern form, limbs, a head, center mass. Instinctively she reached back at her hip, but she was unarmed. It came closer, th silhouette beginning to sharpen, the mist crushing into it, until...

Ruby jolted awake, her arms flailing wildly before her face, warding away an enemy that wasn't there. There was a scream stuck in her throat and her eyes were still busy adjusting to some source of light before her, giving her the feeling of choking and being blinded at the same time.

It took her long, painful seconds to acclimate to her environment. When she was able to see clearly again, the confusion came back again. This was not the room she had been going to sleep in. Their room, meaning her's, Blake's, Yang's and Weiss's, was on the first floor of the humble lodgings Johannes and Maria had organized for them to stay in, but from the way she looked up to the trees outside of the building, through the windows, she judged that she was for some reason, lying in a room on ground level. Even more concerning was, that she was lying on a bed and wore nothing else but her nightshirt, a flimsy piece of fabric, barely short enough to cover her upper thighs.

Also, someone was sitting at the desk on the other side of the room. She could hear the sound of a writing feather, scribbling a rough piece of paper and the occasional clinking of metal. She thought there was the shuffling of feathers too.

"Ruby." A weight lifted from her as she heard the familiar voice of her sister. Fiery blonde hair filled her vision as she returned the embrace, the pressure of the dream washing off of her and driving tears into her eyes.

"Just a bad dream. It was just a dream. You had us scared there, little sis." Yang's voice was soothing for her racing heart and they stayed like this for a few moments, until Ruby's breathing had calmed down sufficiently.

"Indeed, quite a frightening vision you must have had." A calm, soft voice rumbled from the space where the desk stood. Ruby looked at Johannes, who sat across from a large crow that picked at something on the table. She was surprised to find his features in a genuine expression of concern, even more than of the bird, which continued peacefully to search for something edible. His brows were furrowed and his eyes observing her carefully, like her father looked at her when she had told him of her fears of slipping into the same loneliness she felt at Signal, when attending Beacon. It was weird, coming from him, as she only really knew him as someone grim, annoyed or weirdly satisfied with the strangest things.

"It was... just a nightmare." She pressed through, still labored breaths. "Nothing special, really."

"Nothing special?" She felt Yang's arms snake around her again in a bearhug, pressing the air out of her weary lungs.

"This was not just a mom-dream, Ruby. I know what that is... what that feels like. You sleepwalked and you screamed. I don't know what would terrify you like this!"

"Yang, I..." Ruby stopped. Over her sister's shoulder, through strands of golden hair, she saw the Hunter, still sitting across from the bed in his chair. He was staring. Deep into her. Not even Yang had believed her when she said it was okay. And she was not a possible mind reader and/or mentalist. Ruby remembered something from the dream and then she saw something. Something... weird. Something like a shadow, behind Johannes' shadow. It somehow, reminded her of the water in her dreams, even though, those had seemed empty. She knew that this was wrong, there was always something under the surface of the sea. If there was nothing visible, it usually just meant that there was a larger predator or something had happened to the water. Weiss had told them of an incident in one of her family's enrichment facilities. Fire dust had leaked into a nearby river, which proved very unhealthy for the local salmon population. She had explained that the river had actually become very dangerous during mating season, as it was now filled with volatile, explosive fish. Two people had been injured in a combustible salmon incident and even after the Schnee Dust Company had fixed the leak, it had taken months, before the river housed a normal fish population again.

Back then, Ruby had laughed. A bit guilty because of all the exploding fish, but mostly because of the clinical and neutral way, in which Weiss tended to talk sometimes. No doubt a remnant of her heritage.

Now she remembered it, because in her dream, the sea had seemed to be completely empty. A thought that came to her only now, that she thought about it. It had to mean that there was a much larger danger beneath the surface, even though what had scared her the most, had been the figure, forming on the surface.

"What was the dream about?" Yang asked and Ruby answered. She recounted everything that she remembered, even though she noticed that the details were fading fast. When she stopped, she could not avoid the goosebumps again. She noticed the Hunter smiling his creepy smile again. Yang had once almost attacked him for it, after he had talked to Blake. She and Maria had a small clash then, which ended in both of them apologizing profusely, while Johannes looked very, oddly, surprised and even more amused.

"Ruby. Dreams are not just random fragments of memory and imagination. They can be a pathway to different worlds. I am sure I have already lamented on it." Yang and Ruby nodded.

"The black fog is not something you have experienced in the past, is it? Nor is it something that you explicitly feared as of yet. It could symbolise a coincidentally structured concern of yours. Dark and unknown things are commonly negative in connotation. Did you hear any voices or bells in your dream?"

"Voices." She blurted out, making him narrow his eyes.

"What did they say?"

This time she looked at the bird. It had turned it's left eye towards her, watching her with curiosity. Why was it in here?

"I... I don't know. It was bad, that I remember, but other than that..." She trailed off.

"That's your mind, mercifully hiding the memory so you can stay whole. Trauma can be overcome by this, though it can become dangerous." Johannes spoke.

The bird had jumped from the table and was now hobbling on the ground towards the young girl. She couldn't suppress a smile as the thing nuzzled it's beak against her leg hanging from the bed. She remembered seing a single crow here and then, while she was at beacon. It seemed to watch her and she never knew what to make of it. This one was bigger though and appeared to be missing an eye.

"What does that mean?" She asked while extending her arm to pet the bird that watched her incoming hand carefully.

"It means that I'll have to have a closer eye on you, my dear." He answered, giving her a fatherly and wholly unfamiliar smile. It was this that made him seem so uncanny most of the time. One moment he appeared to find great joy in others fear and uneasiness, in others he made the whole world feel familiar and... safe.

The crow protested at her ceasing her caresses towards it, by pecking gently at her leg. She bent down again to ruffle some more through it's feathers.

"Where did you come from?" Ruby cooed while scratching it's neck.

"I don't know." Johannes answered nonplussed. One night he was just in here. I have tried letting him out, but he won't leave." He shrugged his shoulders and stood from his chair, the metal pendants on his belt jingling lightly.

"I trust him to find his own way out when he wants. I leave the window open while I am gone."

"You're going out again?" Yang asked, too watching the crow with some amusement. "Where do you always go? You just sneak out when no one is looking. Is it a secret?"

He chuckled darkly while pulling on his coat and mask. Sharp metal glinted from under it.

"It is not. I am just doing some groundwork."

/

Why not. Lilian Grey had spent the last fourteen days contemplating her encounter with the so-called specialist in the morgue. She had quietly and automatically done her rounds, processed the paperwork on her desk and went home to sleep. Now when the call came that there had been a severe shootout and that all forces were needed in the north, her part of town, it felt like a wakeup call.

She probably should have called in sick today.

Three officers were already on scene, one of them a lot more pale as seemed healthy. All of them stood at the bottom stairs of a three story building. Like the other buildings up north, this one too consisted of high ceilings with intricate decorations inside and out. Slim columns lined the front of the house, though Lilian already saw that pieces of the marble were missing, chipping and holes characteristic for bullet impacts, various calibers.

"Clear?" She asked one of the officers. He shook his head. "Only went halfway into the entrance hall. It's a mess in there."

Lilian drew her gun in a practiced motion and motioned for the two better looking cops to follow her. Paleface was told to guard the entrance and call for more reinforcements. The man had not been lying.

The door had obviously been breached, with it's lock and hinges blown clean from the frame. Four shell casings were evidence for the first strike as they soon found two bodies further down the hall. Both were garbed in some kind of white robe with pointed hoods that wrapped around their heads, obscuring the faces, safe for the eyes. One of them had been hit in the shoulder and neck. Apparently the bullet further up had severed his spine, killing him instantly. The other was lying face down, a small red dot between the shoulder blades and a messy hole in the back of the head. Whoever this was, they had no qualms about killing and they knew their trade. She gripped her gun tighter, scanning her vectors and her corners more carefully.

They reached the main hall, an opulent room with a spiral staircase leading up to the second floor. A small cylinder lay in the middle of the marble floor, still faintly smoking, a flashgrenade. She counted her side of the room. Two dead on the floor, one leaning against the wall and a fourth one, literally shredded, hanging from the railing on the second floor, blood dripping rhythmically to the ground.

"Four here." She whispered.

"Two here."

"Five here. Three down, two on the stairs. Damn that must've hurt."

"Concentrate!" She ordered and both men fell silent again. The only sound was the faint whining of more sirens in the distance and the occasional tingling of bullet casings that rolled over the floor beneath their boots.

What was left of the rooms in the sizeable apartment building painted a picture of destruction. Bullet holes and blood splatters lined the walls and white robed corpses littered the ground. Some sat on desks or couches, slumped against walls or sprawled across the counter in a kitchen. It seemed as if at least some of the people on the ground floor had been whiped out completely unaware of what happened. A few had weapons lying next to them. Cleavers, swords, axes and the occasional smg. Probably the reason for the bulletholes in the walls.

They returned to the main hall and started to advance up the stairs. Reinforcements would arrive at any moment, but whoever was here, they would not be long anymore. The dead duo on the spiral stairs seemed more par for the course, with bodyarmor over their robes and shotguns still gripped in their hands. It hadn't helped them though, as both were missing a sizeable portion of brain matter.

The other that Lilian had seen, hanging over the railing was riddled with bullets. The head seemed to have been ripped apart and pieces of it hung as wet clumps in the pointed hood, while one arm had almost been severed. The bulletholes where in the ceiling, meaning that he had been shot from below and the spread suggested that fire had come from different directions. A crew.

A kill team.

A splotch of blood became a trail into a corridor on the opposite side of the room and they followed it slowly, covering each other. Not surprising, it ended with another corpse. Apparently he or she had been crawling away from someone, bloody footprints evidence to that. a single shot in the back of the head. An execution. Whoever did this didn't have an interest in information from the hooded people, so this was either a raid for hard intel or a clean-up operation. Tying up loose ends, like many crime syndicates did, but rarely with such brutal efficiency.

She waited for the other two officers to stack up behind her. A pinch on her shoulder signalled her their readiness to go further. She moved with practiced efficiency. Slow and steady, but unstoppable and smooth. That was until she was hit in the back of the leg.

It was impossible to avoid taking a knee. Within an instant she had her gun trained behind her, just to see nothing. Both policemen were gone. An arm snaked around her neck and a hand took hold of her gun. One finger snuck behind the trigger and she squeezed hard, but her attacker didn't budge. She tried to wrestle him or her off, only to realize that she might as well have been cast in concrete.

Her grip loosened as the oxygen in her lungs was becoming scarce and a moment, or an eternity later, her weapon fell from her hand. The attacker let go and she fell to the floor, one half of her mind occupied with dragging air into her chest, while the other wondered why she had been left alive.

She turned.

There, all black, shielded in thick tactical armour and unmoving stood a person, a woman. Lilians gun hung lazily from her her grip as she regarded the officer through the lense of her ballistic goggles.

"Don't." It was a whisper, as if she had foreseen Lilian's attempt to go for her ankle, where her bootknife was sheathed. She had only just thought of it and it confused her, as she couldn't have telegraphed that much.

Another black clad soldier rounded the corner, this one a man just slightly taller. He wore the same uniform, but he carried a sophisticated assault rifle, complete with a silencer and a laser.

"Both secured. Police officers ma'am." He reported. Lilian could discern the sharp sounds of an atlesian accent in his voice. So black ops maybe. Ironwood was coming to Vale to provide security for the upcoming Vytal festival. Was this Atlas, trying to establish some foundation? Where these corpses White Fang? They matched their colour scheme. What did he say about her colleagues?

"Alive?" The soldier woman asked and the man nodded.

"One unconscious, both cabletied. Two is watching them."

She emptied the gun and tossed it back to Lilian, which she caught nimbly. The magazine however tumbled loudly to the floor.

"Help her up. Boss wants to chat with her." The soldier man nodded and slung his rifle behind his back. Lilian grabbed his hand and was heaved to her feet in one strong pull. She picked up the ammunition under the man's watchful eye, though he did not object and followed him into another room at the far end of the hall. Both officers were there, seated in comfortable chairs, as well as two more of the black clad soldier figures. One of the officers was apparently just coming to again. A shorter, female soldier shone a flashlight into his eyes and slowly swung a finger before him to observe his reactions, the other policeman stared stoically ahead.

The room had been trashed, apparently while the team of four had been searching for something. Papers were strewn about, secretaries and file cabinets had their drawers flung out and their contents spilled to the floor. The only untouched piece of furniture was a short mahagoni nightstand on the other corner, across from Lilian. The wood was covered with a velvet sheet of fine cloth, embroidered with luxurious golden designs which Lilian couldn't make out from her position. She saw however, the repulsive green marble statuette that sat upon the small wooden pedestal.

"Don't stare." The tall woman stepped before her, blocking her line of sight. Without her noticing, just glancing at the corrupted form of carved stone had sent her mind reeling, upset her core with enough subtlety that the contrast turned her stomach.

Weirdly enough, even though she could only see her eyes through her goggles, as the rest was thoroughly hidden by the foreboding black balaclava, the sight of her serious, cool grey eyes was a soothing sight for her nerves. Even though she had been in hand to hand combat with her, just moments earlier.

"What is all this?" She said, only barely able to contain a stammer in her voice. Somehow this whole scenario seemed surreal to her. She had been at sites of killings before. Murders and the like and she thought herself past the point of becoming too upset over things like that. Being callous had it's benefits, at least in her line of work.

"Our employer will be here shortly. He will explain... maybe." The woman answered. Lilian noticed that the other three soldiers had resumed ransacking the place, rifles slung on their backs, but as she noticed, laser sights still on and probably locked and loaded. There was order in the dismantling of the place. These four were special forces, Lilian had no doubt. Who they worked for was still unclear. Maybe they were Atlas, maybe some wetwork crew for a rich bastard in Mistral for all she knew. Even Ironwood's Regulators, who were said to be the elite of the elite, weren't known for this extent of ruthlessness. In a way, it was unthinkable for anyone concerned for their image to execute an operation with total prejudice like this.

"Boss going to be pissed that we got busted?" The tall man asked into the room at no one in particular.

"Maybe. Probably not at us." The shorter woman answered. They were shushed by the tall woman. Had to be the leader of this unit and she was obviously concerned with confidentiality. Now that she thought of it, where was her back-up? It must have been about fifteen minutes since they called in for reinforcements.

The door opened, letting a light breeze into the room, shuffling the papers around and carrying the smell of death from the rest of the building. Lilian heard steps and saw the four soldiers stand at attention, their faces turned to the door. Then she too looked at it. Of course it was him who stepped through, even though he was wearing a mask that left only his eyes uncovered. Not amused as they had been back then, but hard and exactly as fierce. From the day she had received her assignment, accurately two weeks ago, she had been unable to shake a lingering feeling of uneasiness. The so-called foreign specialist and his pretty assistant, the assaults on shady outposts of the criminal underworld all over Remnant, the missing persons of interest. It was him and his uncanny crew of operators.

"Morning." He said, uncharacteristically short, as he pulled down his mask and behind him, two other figures entered.

The first was a blonde girl, dressed in a similar style as the Hunter. Her long hair was bound in a loose ponytail and hung over her coat's right shoulder, covering her breast. A soft, large feather was attached to her tricorn hat, that played around her masked face. Ice blues glanced graciously over Lilian and her companions, making her heart skip a short beat at true beauty.

The second was the woman who had accompanied the Hunter as they visited the morgue. She was clothed in a practical set of dark pants, jacket and boots. Though the cloth bulging at her lower back suggested the presence of a concealed weapon.

"Status." The Hunter demanded and the tall woman stepped forward.

"Twelve downstairs and seven up here. We have secured the leader. Alpha six has reported in eleven minutes ago. He has chased down a runner in the woods up north. He has destroyed the body and is on his way back. Bravo team is with the VIP on their way back to base in the Greyhound." Lilian recognized the name of one of Atlas' most used infantry fighting vehicles. The blocky car was heavily armored, about as wide as two civilian limousines and capable of housing active defense measures, as well as a lafette for miniguns and grenade launchers. She hadn't seen something like this downstairs.

"They are advised to keep him locked up until you take on the matter personally."

"Thank you. Good job." He answered, again uncannily curt. Then his eyes fell on the green statuette in the corner.

"We thought you would like to take a look at it." The woman said, stepping aside as he strode past her and took the thing in his right hand.

"Yes." It was barely a whisper. Then his hand clenched and the marble figurine burst into fine dust and rubble. Lilian thought a small distortion visible around his appendage, like a shockwave.

"Wait for Six and return to Crossroads. Get some rest and check your equipment. Be ready for briefing and transit tomorrow at sixteenhundred. Please inform Echo and Romeo too. They will accompany us. Lokal law enforcement will take charge of this site now."

"Yessir!"

The crew of four shuffled out, each receiving a gentle nod from the blonde girl, while they in turn, tapped their helmets as if lifting their hats. Now, it felt like Lilian was alone with the Hunter. Both officers had been unbound and given their weapons back, but they just stood at the side. He turned towards her.

"Are you hurt?" He asked, the gentle, soothing tone back in his voice, as opposed to the commanding presence he had given off mere seconds ago. She shook her head.

"Good. I must apologize for the circumstances surrounding our... reunion, but you can rest assured that our cause is similar and my ventures in Vale are at an end. And once again, I feel I have to beg you..."

She had been looking at the ground, until he stepped into her guard, boring into her with his gaze, full of such intensity, that she flinched.

"... keep away, lest you will meet the horrors that trail in my inevitable wake."

Staring into his eyes, she found them to be as paradoxic as the rest of his existence. Had they expressed sadistic amusement on their first meeting, as well as strong concentration and now a weird swing from iron seriousness to something akin to... sadness? Why would he be saddened by anything here? Was not everything according to his plans, as he had said previously to the members of his death squad? Had she done something...

Would something happen to her?

"I think by now it is too late." She said, surprised by the strength in her own voice.

"Even if I wanted to try and keep my head out of your things, it seems that your things come to me." He had stepped away and had started rummaging through a desk drawer, but she knew he heard. He pulled a curved knife from it, that was far too long to fit into the wooden drawer and placed it on the desk.

"That is most unfortunate." He grumbled, now halfway behind her.

"But I guess the chance of you being strong enough to save yourself, could be worth to test it. Perhaps you will find a path not too different from my own, centuries ago." A breath left her nose, but she knew that this should not surprise her at all. She looked around to see that the other two officers had left and shrieked a little, when she felt the Hunter's arms on her shoulders and something cold on her chest. Looking down, she saw a large oval, opal pendant, now hanging from a fine silvery chain around her neck. From the lower end of the stone hung a short piece of smooth cloth, held with a complicated knot and a silver ring. She could not even feel the chain and had to touch it to make sure it was not cutting into her flesh, but found it's texture to be as smooth as silk and felt her anxiety disperse again.

"An associate of mine has once given me this gem to help me through dark times. It will fill your mind with clarity when the world around goes mad. As dangerous as it is helpful. It has never been gifted to me, but I never had a chance to give it back and when I leaned of my associates fate, I also learned that they would not have any further use for the thing." He strolled back into her field of view again, one hand still holding the blade from the drawer, that was lazily swinging back and forth with his steps.

"Please sit with me for a moment, until I depart." He gestured to one of the padded chairs across from him and then sat down on one himself. Still, his eyes conveyed a tragic melancholy as they looked at her and she did not like it, though she knew it would be foolish to tell him to stop. He leaned forward, his hat now set on his knee, so that the short mess of dark hair below it showed and Lilian was afraid for a moment of how human the man appeared.

"I have, just recently informed my contacts, within all public offices, within all kingdoms, of a major crisis closing in. I have prepared a group of people to perform the kinds of work necessary, but not allowed to me by said kingdoms. And to a young lady, just two weeks ago, I have explained, outside of the very same morgue we have met in, what awaits this, rather peaceful world." He paused and looked at her, while she returned his stare in an attempt to match his intensity.

"And what awaits the world?" She asked as he pulled a box of cigarettes from his coat pocket and pulled on two of them, removing one and lettin the other stick out halfway, to offer it to Lilian. She accepted it without hesitation and before the Hunter could reach out to light it, she had her own flame on hand. At last, a bit of the pressure washed off of her like water, like she had just been pulled back on deck. She saw the small smirk playing around the corner of his mouth, before he lit his own cigarette and pointed at the pendant on her neck.

"In a way, their loan, since it has never been mine, is now yours. As if they had intended for you to receive it in some convoluted motive."

"I don't believe in fate too much, Johannes." It had taken her a while to rremember that he actually had given her a name. "The feeling that my life is set in stone and that none of my actions have an impact, don't like it." She took a long drag and he sat back, studying her again.

"If we, humans and faunus, could see so clearly, that every detail, every personality and every possible coincidence could be predicted, so that there were no more secrets, what would our species do?" She looked at him and saw him smiling. It was a friendly smile, besides the incisors glinting dangerously in the low light. He seemed proud in a way.

"Every single man, woman, and child, would meet at Remnant's longest shore, to the deepest ocean." He said.

"And together they would go into the water, perishing forever."

As if on cue, one of the windows opened, apparently being pushed open by the wind, making Lilian jump from her chair and turn. She relaxed her grip on her holstered gun, when she saw what kind of guest the wind had let in. A large, black crow, that was missing an eye and stared at her as if insulted, while it hobbled to the Hunter's side.

"You know,-" He continued while bemding down slightly to pet the bird. "-if I knew of everything and all that has happened, is happening or is going to happen, what good would a free mind do me then? If I knew why this bird is following me for days, it would make it rather unspectacular." He got up and stepped closer to her to collect the dud of her burned up cigarette. Amazed, she noticed that the tobacco hadn't left the typical cold stench, but none at all.

"Miss Grey. My time is running short, courtesy of my own tendency to rambling I suppose, so I will cut to the chase."

He pointed at the pendant.

"The silk will grant shelter to you and those in need. You will know when to use it and you won't need to hesitate."

He flicked his wrist and supposedly out of nowhere, the long knife from the drawer, twirled upwards, which he caught nimbly by the blade. Just now, Lilian noticed that the blade was not just blackened, but actually made from almost pitch black metal. The edge looked uncannily sharp and she was not sure if it was safe to hold for someone like her. Still she took it.

"One aims for the heart of a beast, be it with the blade or the gun. The blade is better at making sure you're quarry is crushed though."

Lastly, he pointed at her pistol, holstered at her waist.

"Leave that at home. Find a twelve gauge or a .308. And alway make sure that whatever you have felled, is actually dead."

He turned to the door, sweeping the crow up in his arm and holding it to his chest like an infant, while the bird looked around, seemingly content with its situation. When he passed the threshold he turned one last time.

"It's the absence of sanity. War. Please, make sure to be careful. Fear the old blood and... In fact, just fear all old things."

He then tipped his hat and left Lilian standing, an unnatural blade in her hand and an expression on her face that completely betrayed her feelings. She was alone. Was she? Her fingers glided over the smooth surface of the opal. No, she was not alone.

She was one of the first.

/

 _To hands of Dr. Ozpin, Headmasters Office_

 _Dear friend,_

 _I write to you in the best educated hopes, that anything I might reveal, finds itself safe in your possession. As you might, or might not already know, the council's members, have received a document each, in which I explain the ongoing need for secrecy, but also the dire nature of our and by extension, your situation._

 _I have had a short talk with one of your students and now my protegé,_ _Ms. Belladonna. As you surely know of my difficulties to keep the horizon of conversation out of obscurity, you surely already guessed correctly and thought that she was left in relative puzzlement. However, I believe to have placed a successful suggestion in all four of your students, of the coming conflict._

 _Ms. Fall, Ms._ _Sustrai and Mr. Black have met me in explicit knowledge of the repulsive forces that amass in the black lands and while I do not ignore their involvement in various crimes in the past, I believe that I would not have to threaten them to discourage them of doing so in the future. But I am afraid I am drifting off._

 _After having completed inspections of several places of interest with my newly acquired force of valued professionals, besides your students, I have reason to believe that your antagonist's first phase has already been completed more than two weeks ago._

 _Out of captured correspondence between a militant Valean cult by the name of "Our Lady's Eager", a group founded in 1922 out of the wealth of an Arkholm man named James Keller, as well as from quoted excerpts of blasphemous scripts, which I will not discuss in detail, me and my dear Maria have been able to pinpoint a length of shore on the western coast of Vale, where we think the second phase of the black queen's plan might commence. As you are reading these lines, we are on our way there. Me, my entourage of eight, including your students, as well as a fresh platoon of hunters, that I have carefully selected together with the valued and trusted Ms. Mary Decker, formerly_ _Captain of the Atlesian marine corps, are embarking on a journey to confront the antagonist's plans._

 _As for the rest of the world, the coming months might become difficult. Be aware that no one who has ever learned in detail of Yharnam's fate and the labyrinth, has ever truly learned from it. While an advocate of progress and science, I myself believe that every trace of that time must be purged and for too long, I have been living with a compromise._

 _Trusting in your confidentiality, I have attached a more detailed history of myself and of the person, that you call "Salem". The last of the witches of Hemwick._

 _May the good blood guide you, my friend and may you fear the old one._

/

Ozpin folded the letter and stared at the second, smaller envelope that had come with the original one. He let out a soft breath.

"Son of a bitch."

 **a.n. Phew. Sorry for the Frankenstein Monster chapter here. I got sidetracked and so on. I am writing another story (Again within RWBY), but no worries, the Deep is still my primary effort.**

 **Please leave a comment, also if you have an opinion, tell me if you would like to read about alternate-universe-modern-Prussian-huge-ass-1800m-battleship-in-RWBY (working title). I might put a bit of my effort in that too then.**


	8. Feindkontakt

_AN: Kept people waiting, huh. Took me quite some timetime and I am not that satisfied with the result. Don't worry though, I have no intention to let this story down as of yet. Like always, criticism and feedback is appreciated._

 **Feindkontakt -** **Enemy Contact**

"And waste he shall lay on the shores of his enemy. Death he shall bring to their halls and leave the unwilling shaken to the core of their souls. What he once was is forgotten to him, as he turns his back to another beast, torn asunder in his rage."

-Script of Adhan, 1827

"We should set up camp. The driver told me he can't see too good in this darkness. Not even their nightvision is able to help."

"And?"

"And it's pitchblack for me too and you don't want to drive." Maria swatted at a bit of dust on the Hunter's coat.

They had been on the road for three days now. Johannes had sent Decker and her team ahead, to scout for a place to set up shop. They had taken the Nightowl to be faster, but that left the rest of the group, team RWBY, Cinder and her comrades, about twenty-five soldiers of Johannes' private army and himself and Maria, to have to take the slower way with the four Greyhound IFVs that had found their miraculous way into the Hunter's hands. They were westbound, towards where Johannes had predicted an attack to be launched against the Kingdom of Vale. The western shore, outside of the Kingdom's walls, where the countryside was only occasionally dotted with small villages and towns.

"We will be practicing extreme prejudice." He had instructed them the night before they packed and vanished. And he had been uncharacteristically curt too. It was as if the Johannes they knew was someone entirely different from the one who made battleplans, outfitted operators and fieldstripped weapons. Especially for Ruby, this new facette of his personality had been another humbling experience. Just when everyone thought that the Hunter had warmed up to them, they learned that he had never really pushed them off. There were, more or less simply, several different personalities working inside one body. An oldfashioned gentleman, a carnivorous predator and a cold and focused soldier. The one word answers she had received when trying to ask him about one of his firearms, had really put her off.

"Opposing forces are as of yet, unknown. We will have to improvise once we get there. But be aware that, for reasons of confidentiality, reinforcements can not reach us immediately."

"What is confidentiality supposed to mean?" Had been Weiss' question.

"It means that I am sure that Atlesian, Valean, Vacuoan and Mistralean military forces have been infiltrated and can not be trusted, except certain individuals."

"I'll have you know that a Schnee would never betray her duty."

"I am sure of that." It was always strange to see one mode of his being bleed into another. A stoic stare, turning into a grim smile.

It still took them almost another hour to find a good spot to park the giant cars and the better part of another hour to set up camp. Proud, after only a single failed attempt to erect their tent, Ruby, Weiss and Yang sat around a small fire, wrapped in woollen blankets to keep the cold at bay. The mood was good overall. The four members of RWBY had even chatted with a pair of Johannes' operators on the way here. A young Mistralean woman with a small nose and broad face, as many from that kingdom's far west had and a night skinned faunus man from Menagerie, who's dog tail had been swishing lazily from side to side during the whole trip. They had told them how the Hunter had found them, one a mercenary in contract with the Atlesian army and the other, much to Blake's surprise, an ex-White Fang member, who had hidden in Vale for pretty much the same reasons as her. And they got along swimmingly.

"Stood in front of my apartment one day and offered me a place among similar people. I would never have dreamed that these people were from all over... or that human's would be among them." He had said, while his mask could not hide the smile completely.

Apparently, the Hunter's private army consisted of thirty two men and women from all possible backgrounds. They were also not all fighters. Some were electricians, paramedics or even former members of the very shady underbelly of Remnant. One of them, they learned, was literally bought from a Mistralian gangster boss and was apparently heavily involved in corporate assassinations in his past.

Nothing of that remained in these men and women now. Completely devout to the Hunter's teachings, though not the Hunter himself, as he had made clear that this would not happen, they were ready to carry out his orders as first Hunter of the oncoming night. They watched as they meticulously maintained their equipment, exchanged meaningful glances and greetings and at some point in the night, Ruby observed a soldier relieving another from guard duty at the heavy machinegun, so that he could say his prayers to Cos. Cos, the lonely mother that one hunter had drowned in the tides to let it's orphan become source of, now Johannes', Hunter's Nightmare.

"Where's Blake?" Weiss asked without particular context, looking at Yang, the faunus girl's partner. Blake had excused herself soon after they had finished setting up their tent

"At the shrine probably." The blonde answered. "She wanted Johannes to explain to her the thing behind that squid god. Maybe she's praying."

"Don't you find that worrying?" The heiress asked.

"That she's hanging around Johannes or that she would be indoctrinated? Please, do not start with the stuff about radicals again."

Weiss raised her hands defensively. "No, I didn't mean it like that. It's just, that these people seem... weird. Blake was so very grounded in her thinking. That she believes in gods now..."

She watched Ruby poke a stick into the fire to turn one of the wooden logs around, so that the untarnished side would catch fire and produce more warmth.

"He is also still strange for me." The heiress added after a moment.

"Yeah... for me too." Ruby said, watching the glowing end of her stick.

"There is that weird sense of having to depend on him, even though he always encourages me to think and follow my own instincts. It is just his weird presence I guess."

Yang grinned. "Yeah, she's been hit pretty hard depending on him."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked, while Weiss narrowed her eyes on the blonde. "Yeah, what do you mean?"

"Well, she is just that age, where she's interested in this kind of stuff. You know... the birds, the bees-"

"Yang! That... man is about three hundred years older than us!" Weiss almost yelled, while Ruby just had a thoughtful look on her face.

"What? He doesn't look too bad." Yang said, half a laugh on her lips.

"He looks like a cross between a victorian undertaker and an axe murderer."

"Just because you never look at his face." Yang still grinned. "He's got some very deep eyes."

"Exactly why I don't look at them." Weiss glanced to the side almost nervously.

"They are scary sometimes." Ruby said lowly from the side. "But Maria also told me of how he was all alone back in Yharnam, safe for a few people who did not want to fight him."

"She knows him awfully well, doesn't she?"

"Yang, would you stop for Oum's sake!?" Weiss huffed again, now crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Still stands. She spends a lot of time around him. I don't think he's interested in romantic involvements anyway. He seems almost like a..."

The blonde was interrupted by the soft rustling of leaves behind her.

"Like what?" Maria said, stepping out of the darkness.

"Ummm..." It was unnerving how the two of them could just appear and dissappear at a moment's notice.

"Rhetorical question." She stepped further into the light of the fire and seated herself on a blanket she had brought. She needn't cover herself against the cold. Her coat and scarf seemed thick enough.

"I know what you've been talking about." She smiled warmly. Apparently Yang's mention of her didn't bother her at all.

"And well, it is difficult with the Good Hunter. You know how cryptic he can be about really significant things. Just imagine how impossible it is to get something personal out of him. But there are moments. You just have to catch them."

She shifted slightly, making the light reflected harshly from the blood red brooch and the large pendant hanging from a delicate chain around her neck.

"Did you..." Yang started.

"No... Well..." The blonde's grin broadened and Weiss' eyes widened as a small blush crept on Maria's face.

"What?" Ruby chimed in, looking around confused between the other three, until Maria finally kept going.

"... I did try at some point. There are no ties between us and I have been young too, you know." A short pause. "But even though I know he loves me, that place in his heart is occupied. Someone he knew. Someone he shared a path with and he will never forget."

Now it was Yang's time to blush. The thought of the Hunter caring deeply for anyone else was strange. It also put images in her head she told herself she would rather not have there. It did nothing to diminish her grin though.

"Who was it?" Ruby asked, oblivious still to the perverted notions radiating off her big sister.

"She went by the name of Victoria back then. The last surviving witch of Hemwick. It is said that Cos of the seas put her in a deep slumber before the other witches went mad under the great one's influences and turned their home into the charnel lane that it was when the Hunter stumbled upon the place."

"So, did he kiss her awake?" Weiss asked, a slight hint of sarcasm in her voice that made Maria chuckle.

"No. Hemwick charnel lane was not a welcoming place for the Hunter. The witches, mad of the blood, attacked him on sight and it became the first true massacre to which the Hunter committed himself to."

Maria's words hung in the air for a while, the three huntresses in training left to stare at her content expression as the woman looked at the flames.

"It might happen to us too." She continued. "We also might meet people that are twisted to abominable forms by the elder powers. To whom all help is too late and the only mercy left for them is death. So that is what Johannes did. He wandered the village and sought out any and all those who dwelled there... to kill them. Until he happened upon the unconscious form of Victoria, who he carried back to the Chapel in the center of Yharnam for the Chapel Dweller to take care of. He said it took him a full day to convince himself that she was not tainted and had only been saved by the mercy of Cos, who now lay stranded and rotting at the beaches of the fishing village."

There was a lengthy pause as noone dared to say something. Finally though, a meek voice spoke up behind them. It was Blake, who had in her usual manure, snook up to the group without the other three noticing.

"But... but there was no other way, right?" Maria smiled sadly at the question.

"Perhaps, but none of which he would've been capable back then. Johannes' journey had just started and he was weak, compared to what he is today. But even now that he has searched for three centuries, there has been no cure for the horrible influence of the old blood. Not even in him."

"He has... this too?" Yang asked, while Maria's expression eased somewhat.

"He is the last true of the paleblood. A genome that allows his body to accommodate the elder's essences. He was only lucky that his mind was strong enough to resist it's treacherous song."

"The madness." Blake said. Maria nodded.

"It is an ever present danger. The power and the thirst for more of the old blood drives most hunters insane. They will seek out anything even remotely like the old blood and commit horrible act's to consume it. But normal blood will never be enough. It never quenches the thirst. And he is struggling even now, since with him, the thirst grows only stronger."

For a while, no one said anything, lost in thought, with varying expressions of sympathy and cautious distress. Johannes did not seem to any of them as someone requiring any sort of aid. Most of the time around them a bulwark of strength and reassuring, sometimes like a dangerous predator, whose path was better left uncrossed.

"We will face the enemy soon." Maria said, just loud enough for the four to hear. "It will not be like fighting Grimm or contesting in a tournament. Hunters will die in battle and they will not come back. You will be in danger of death if you can not do what needs to be done."

"Will there be people?" Ruby asked, fearful concern on her face.

"They might resemble people. But we would not raise arms against those who can be saved. Whatever we will meet, not even the Hunter might know, will be beyond help. But it will surely be bloody and you might see things you will never be able to forget. I have talked to the Good Hunter and he agrees, has changed his mind. If you four would like to leave, you are free to do so. A detachment of our forces would escort you to a safe-"

"No!" Everyone looked up at Weiss, surprised at her sudden resolve. For most of the time it had seemed as if she was merely tagging along. Now there was an angry glimmer in her eyes, like steel.

"A Schnee would not run away in the face of danger. Not if people's life's depend on it."

Maria smiled warmly.

"She's right. If we can help, we will!" Ruby chimed, almost happily.

"Where she goes, I go. Blake will follow that man anyway." Yang answered, again grinning at the faunus girl's blush and her annoyed glare.

"So it is settled again." Maria said and stood from the fire. While they had been sitting, the clouds above the clearing had broken and the moon's light had reappeared on them. It was hanging impossibly low, almost touching the horizon and cast everything in a cold blueish tinge.

"Ladys, pardon my intrusion." The characteristic low grumble of Johannes' voice rumbled through their bodies as he stepped out of the darkness, much like Maria had. He had again, cast off his coat and mask, his hat hanging lazily from one of his belts.

"Miss Belladonna, we shall continue our discussion sometime else. For now I would like to express my genuine gratefulness for the continuation of your support."

He bowed slightly, putting his right leg back and tilting his head groundward, before he continued in a more clinical tone.

"We will head out at sun's dawn tomorrow, to the town of Alasson, seven kilometres off the shore to the ocean. I expect this town to be hostile territory and I am only awaiting confirmation from the recon team. As for now..."

He gestured in a gentle arc at them all, his eyes carefully meeting each pair of eyes staring back at him.

"Please find a good night's rest. Prepare yourself and your belongings for combat. It honors me to see you so stern and ready. I will see to my prayers now."

Everyone nodded and he, after another look at each of them, turned and vanished back into the relative darkness.

"Who does he pray to?" Yang suddenly asked, one eyebrow raised in surprise that the man would revere anything above him.

"An entity from one another world, I suppose." Maria answered. "One of great kindness and mercy, but whose fury burns like the very core of a star. He who trains our hands for battle, our fingers for war."

/

"To bring order as a Hunter of gods."

Somewhere and nowhere, sometime and not at all, a mighty voice arose within an impossible void of burning fire as dark as the night.

"Your actions... have roused... suspicions among forces... better left uninvolved."

The chaos within shifted and stirred, causing maelstroms of smoke and energy to sweep upon each other and crash in a fiery thunderstom, before falling apart into themselves. Just as another voice answered.

"So be it."

The sea of carnage calmed somewhat as neither spoke for a while and then suddenly awoke again with a terrible roar as they continued their exchange.

"The Good Hunter... is walking his path again. It thirsts... for blood."

"No. That is not possible. What treason!"

More thunder, more smoke, the sky all around, up, down and among itself engulfed in a terrible inferno.

"There... is always a different point of... view. I doubt it sees it as you... do."

"He... has no business here any longer. What does he care for this feeble world!?"

"Yet... you want... it."

An abominable stare cut through the sweeping violence, seeking in futility.

"No! I need it. I need all of it! As it is now, it is unsustainable. I have seen it! He has shown me!"

"Who... did?"

Serenity. Pure order. Everything the universe offered, fell back into place as for an eternity, nothing flowed into the void.

"How... do we stop... it?"

"By pleading. By begging. Nothing can stand against him. He is the herald of the end."

"We... shall see."

/

Decker shifted under the cover of her cloak, relaxing her grip on the LT Tactical Precision Rifle in her right hand. Propped up on a bipod and outfitted with a powerful scope, the weapon pointed towards the eastern fringes of the small town called Alasson, where only the fog moved to and fro between the run down buildings.

They had landed the Nightowl just two clicks east and moved the rest of the way on foot, all the while on high alert. The Hunter had warned them to be cautious of any hostilities from the inhabitants, so they did what the Hunter had taught them. They moved fast and silent. Ghosts in the night, shadows in the dark.

A rustle, next to her. She looked to the right, seeing Ellen, her comm operator fiddle with the radio and then point at her. Immediately, her headset crackled to life and the distinctive voice of Johannes was in her ear.

"We are en route. ETA: ninety minutes. No shot is fired until I give the order. Retreat if you are spotted. I will speak to the village elder."

She gave her affirmation and curtly instructed her team, whol lay scattered across the treeline, covering every angle of approach.

For ninety minutes nothing happened, until exactly ninetey two minutes later, the familiar rumbling of an oncoming convoy filled her ears.

One by one the IFVs came into view of her scope, hatches closed, until they stopped and the tall silhouette of the Hunter exited the lead vehicle, followed closely by Maria, the four huntresses in training, Cinder's group and five of Decker's fellow hunters.

The group walked straight at the edge of town. No cover, not a notion of stealth. Every fiber in Mary Decker screamed "ambush". But she waited.

She waited because she had been ordered to. Order was everything. It seperated them from beasts and gave them power. Where an Ursa would tear apart a single man, it was order and communication that gave them strength. It would persevere here too.

A woman moved towards the group, stopping directly before the hunter and falling to her knees, tugging at the edge of his coat as he stared onward passively.

At the crowd that was amassing on the street. Decker scolded herself for not noticing sooner. She shifted her scope to the right, to get a full picture at the angle she had of the village's entrance. Shoddy wooden buildings, two floors the highest and falling apart at the seams. The wood looked rotting, wet, as if the foggy mists around town had not lifted in years. Surely something a bit more durable would have suited it better.

The woman continued her pleading and had dragged herself up to look into the Hunter's eyes now. However, as she gazed into his, her mouth just stood open and she fell back on the ground, hastily bringing a few meters between them.

The Good Hunter said something and started moving towards the crowd of people. Old, young, women and men parted in his path while throwing him hateful looks or staring in pure fear.

He had taken only about five steps when the shot rang out, Johannes staggering only slightly as a projectile punched through his neck and into the chest of the unlucky soul who was standing behind him in the line of fire. Blood sprayed in a fine mist as his head jerked.

Decker's eyes widened.

The Hunter's hand shot out to catch his falling hat.

The hunters on the crossing raised their rifles as one.

All four huntresses sprang into stance, weapons unfolding and arming, Cinder and her retinue practically lunging into the crowd, to the Good Hunter's side.

Hell was about to break loose... but it didn't.

Agonizingly patient, Johannes placed the tricorn back on his head and turned his head to one of the buildings. He stared upward, at the wall of a building that Decker could not see from her position. And then he walked inside.

Only moments passed before the landscape was shaken again by the thundering boom of an explosion. Debris lifted into the air and fell back down as a large cloud of smoke rose among the rooftops of the small town. She shifted frantically, trying at least to cover her comrades and the teenagers with her rifle, should the need arise.

Finger on the trigger.

/

Ruby lifted her finger off Crescent Moon's trigger as she stared forward at the ground. Somewhere, she could faintly hear the hunters screaming threats and profanities at the gathered townspeople and she felt the presence of her sister beside her. She said something. What was it? Did it matter?

She just kept staring at the disembodied arm on the muddy ground in front of her. It was strangely clean of any dirt and blood. It also looked shockingly young, with fair skin and no sign of veins protruding from the skin. Why were these details so prominent in her current mind? Whoever this appendage had been attached to previously was dead now. Inevitably and finally.

Something hit her against the side of her head and she felt her knees buckle underneath her, giving way for her body to topple forward and her arms only managing narrowly to stop her from falling facefirst into the dirt.

Gloved hands were set gently on her shoulders and as she focused her forward stare, she looked into unfamiliar golden eyes. One of Johannes' hunters without a doubt. The soldier had a look of worry on his masked face, only betrayed by the furrowing of his brow, as je talked to her slowly and methodically. She understood parts of what je said and felt her head nod lazily.

"Do you know your name?" Ruby Rose.

"How old are you?" Fifteen, no, almost seventeen.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Four. Now two. Now three.

She noticed that the soldiers had boxed all of team RWBY in a protective phalanx. Yang was immediately at her side, touching her face and slowly she realised that a faint trickle of blood ran from the spot where a rock must have hit her.

The realization of the situation made her hurl immediately, splattering the back of the leg of an uncaring soldier with little spittles of watery vomit.

"It's alright." The goldeneyed soldier said, trying his best to make his voice calming, but over the ambient yells and screams, he too had to raise his voice. "Let it all out. It's okay."

"Maria!" Blake yelped as the blonde shoved her aside, uncharacteristically gracelessly. The old Hunter passed the teens and stood between two soldiers, telling them to step further apart. The obeyed. Then she turned to RWBY.

"Watch." She commanded. The song and love gone from her voice as if for good and she grabbed Weiss' arm first, dragging her to the front of the line.

"Ma'am? Are you sure?" The man on the left, a large dog faunus inquired with a glance from his iron sights at the huntress in training.

"I am. They need to see. It'll be over soon." She said and he nodded, fixing his grip on the assault rifle.

Ruby looked up as she was more or less gently pushed to the shoulder of another soldier, Yang and Blake soon to follow. To her right, another squad had formed around Cinder, Emerald and Mercury, though they seemed more prepared than she was at the sight in front of her.

Before she had been hit, she had been sure that the crowd of people had looked like ordinary folk. A bit unkempt on occasion and with more hostile expressions than it seemed necessary, but yet still... human.

Now, apparently on instant, the men, women and children seemed to have developed terrifying abnormalities. Deformed jaws were split in horrible howls. Forearms parted down the whole length to the joint, to reveal new, clawed and mangled limbs, that snapped and twirled as if they had a life on their own. Eyes, so many eyes, more than possible stared and blinked and twitched around.

The click of a safety switch on a firearm to her right being disengaged, sounded loud and crisp in her ear, but she would not turn her head to look, too fixated on the terrifying display of deformation in her sight.

Somewhere in the back, an inhuman, guttural scream sounded out, like a wave washing over the crowd, so that it fell silent. Sceletal wings sprouted from an unseen being inmidst the hellish riot and from one moment to another, a bleeding pulp, once human, now only barely resemling the same, lifted itself into the air.

Tattered robes of a priest of Oum clung to it's bulging frame and the ceremonial hat, still upright on the mangled skull, it's rim sinking into the bubbling flesh, still stood tall as if to mock the Great Creator himself. Silvery claws extended from it's wrists, clearly appendages to the bones in the forearm and as it reeled back it's excuse for a head, another, louder piercing shriek rattled through Ruby's bones.

No one noticed the silver wire, beset with razorsharp blades that snaked it's way to the creature, unbeknownst even to itself. Just until it buried it's teeth into it's thigh, spraying blood over the collective of abhuman beasts below it and with a powerful pull, the flying creature was ripped out of the air and plummeted to the ground, screaming. There was silence for a moment again as the thing's turned their heads to RWBY and the other fighters, until...

"OPEN FIRE!" A man screamed, igniting the deafening staccato of gunfire. As one, muzzleflashes took Ruby's sight and bullet shells flew through her vision, as faintly, she could make out the townspeople, their faces contorted with rage and hate, lunge towards the phalanx with herself in the middle.

But the line held.

One creature broke out of the cone of fire and tried to flank them on the right, but was immolated by a fireball that had come from Cinder. A woman in front of her screamed as she let an empty boxmagazine fall to the ground to ram a new one in, opening fire again. Behind them, the heavy stomping crashes of a heavy machinegun, mounted on one of the IFVs ripped into the crowd on the left, decapitating bodies and severing limbs as the heavy projectiles flung the corpses back, pushing the living farther away.

It was a massacre. Yet none of them turned in fear or screamed in pain. All the noise was pure hate and disgust, driven by the sole instinct to kill and worse. Several times, the earshattering wail of the winged priest pierced through the gunfire, but it was blocked from view, by the, now wavering tide.

Moments later, only a dozen remained. Two of them towering, muscled remains of what had once been human, shrugged off the gunfire like nothing as they charged both groups. The thing came close and unconsciously, Ruby gripped Crescent Moon, raising it between both soldiers in front of her.

None of them could die here. Not by this. These... abominations had to be purged. It was right. Maria was right. This was mercy.

The great beasts jugular vanished, just as it was about to plow into the group. Red mist was sprayed to it's right as tissue was evaporated by what must have been a powerful round. Unbeknownst to Ruby, Decker cycled the action of her precision rifle, almost eighthundred meters away. It clutched the remainder of it's throat, wheezing as it tried to collect enough air in it's lungs to keep it alive and trying to stem the flow of blood that now sprayed from severed vessels.

Another hit brought it to it's knees, still trying it's best to stay upright, but finally, one of the heavy guns from the vehicles turned from the other juggernaut and tore into this one's body, slicing off an arm by the shoulder and folding it's body in half as fifty caliber bullets impacted below it's center mass.

The young huntress in training stared until her attention was pulled up and past the bleeding corpse among bleeding corpses. There, in the back, in a crater of limbs and innards, stood the Hunter, as the Priest kneeled before him, his wings broken off and flung to the walls, the stems bubbling still with putrid blood. A testament of a fight unseen, before Johannes took on a stance, reeled his arm back and plunged his hand through the Priest's chest, ripping out the heart and crushing the organ in his iron grip. The abomination toppled over, splashing up reddish mud as it's torso slammed into the disturbed ground.

Screaming, a remainder of the crowd, one single man sprinted at the Good Hunter, snapping it's jaws and flailing it's arms like a haywire windmill. He didn't turn, nor acknowledge the thing as he stared upon the poor, ravaged remains of the man of faith. Not until a swath of gunfire washed over the creature, shaking it's body violently and peeling the skin off of it's flesh.

"Hold fire!" The same man, who had given the command to engage the crowd before yelled. Simultaneously, all guns clicked on safe and were pointed to the ground. Faint footsteps signalling the approach of the Hunter and soon, he stood before Ruby and her team, still surrounded on all sides by his men and women.

He spared them no glance, not yet. Covered in blood, remains of his fight in the rear, his right hand still dripping and his left clutching a large pistol, the slide locked back, the magazine expended, he gave the soldier to Ruby's left a stern look and spoke, honest regret in his voice.

"Clear the buildings. No survivors. Burn the bodies."

The man deftly pulled his hand to his chest, surely some form of salute and nodded, before stepping forward, past Johannes and signalling the other soldiers to gather around him, giving orders and pointing squads into directions inward of town.

To the left, Ruby saw Emerald, kneeling on the ground and applying pressure to a wound on another soldiers waist, while a medic pulled out disinfectant and started to examine the damage. She hadn't thought of the young woman as one to worry about the people around her, always seemingly aloof to anything in her environment. Yet the look of worry on her face suggested otherwise now.

"How very merciless of you, my dear Maria." His voice, still clear over the chatter of the fireteams.

"It had to be done Good Hunter. No one's hands will remain clean, just like it was before." Was Maria scolding him? Was that an accusing tone in her voice?

"I know... It should have been my responsibility to take their innocence. Again, you did what I lacked the strength to do." Ruby's eyes met briefly with his. Guilt and sorrow, yet the strength in both Johannes' and Maria's gaze was bottomless.

"Of course I did. It is my duty, is it not?"

/

"Sir."

"Yes, specialist?"

"Eleven minutes ago, we have received reports of a major skirmish in the town of Alasson."

And?"

"There have been scouts in the area. They reported a massacre on the townspeople by an unknown paramilitary force. They also saw someone who fits the bill of Johannes. The Hunter that has been on your vessel some time ago."

"Sir?"

"How sure are they?"

"They're absolutely sure, sir. They also reported that the townspeople attacked the paramilitaries like, I quote, "insane lunatics." Apparently there has been an explosion too."

"Where are you now?"

"Already en route, sir."

Specialist, make contact with these... paramilitaries and The Hunter. Make yourself known under all circumstances. I will send new orders in time."

"Understood, sir."

"Be careful, specialist Schnee.

/

"Hey, baby sis." Yang said carefully, listening to the running water behind the white curtain. She leant against the closed doorframe, crossing her arms under her chest while Ruby stood under the shower... for the last thirty minutes.

"Are you... going to be alright?" Her voice was free of the shaking it had had a few hours ago, but it was still filled with uncertainty. The sight of her younger sibling collapsing upon seeing the aftermath of what destruction the hunters had wrought on the town's populace, had hit her almost harder than the picture of one of the large one's head being blown to bits by fifty caliber impacts.

A small whine was her answer. At least she was responding now. Under any other circumstance, she would have pulverized anyone responsible for Ruby's trauma, but neither did Yang think she could best Johannes in an all out brawl, nor did she think it was necessary. The Good Hunter, as self confident as he seemed otherwise, had appeared in disarray and distress since the attack. From a scrap of conversation between him, Maria and Decker, that the blonde had overheard earlier, she learned that the man had not thought that the town was completely forsaken. He had wanted to safe whoever possible, but instead, his soldiers were now still in the process of purging the village, house by house, room by room. There were still the faint noises of automatic gunfire coming from the north, where the harbor of Alasson was situated.

"It'll be fine." The younger girl finally said, her slender face peeking from the edge of the shower curtain. She had a weak smile on her face of which Yang immediately recognized as fake. Nevertheless she answered with a smile of her own.

"Johannes wants us to come with him into town. He is sorry, but he says Maria is right. This had to happen."

Silence. Ruby had turned off the water and the only sound for a while was of drips of water falling with slow regularity.

"Maybe... he is tricking everyone. Maybe this all is just his own personal crusade..." She finally said and shortly after cut off Yang who was about to say something herself.

"...But I don't believe that. This whole thing, it is larger than the Grimm, or the White Fang, or the oppression of Faunus all over the world. If we allowed this... whatever this is, to spread farther... I don't think there will be anyone, or anything left to fight one another."

She had stepped out and took the towel that her sister had been offering her to dry off herself.

"And as bad as it sounds, the people of Remnant... they will at least be able to rise over all these things, such as racism and greed. Probably not in our lifetime, but... someday. If having this chance requires me to become more like..." She gestured towards the door, outside, where they knew Johannes' hunters where.

"...more like them. Then I will do it."

She smiled. Sad, but genuine this time and the blonde saw it again. The pure power that radiated off that innocent frame of her baby sister. Small Ruby, who had to be protected and sheltered, was leaving and in her place, another Ruby took hold. A young warrior, whose steel was still free of blemishes, but ready to be tested.

"I'll be right behind you, lil' sis." Yang grinned.

/

"Sir! We have taken the harbormaster's office. No casualties thus far."

"Good." Johannes sat on a wooden crate, next to the main entrance to Allasson's rather impressive church. The building was old, at least a century by now and had survived the war seemingly unscathed. The middleship was plain, even though the roof seemed extravagantly high for a building of this particular size and location. The belltower reached even higher, almost double the size of the mainbuilding. On the Good Hunter's behest, the face of the large clock had been smashed in part and was now occupied with a duo of machinegunners from his force, with a third one, a sniper sitting at the top by the churchbell, having transformed the tower's crown into a crow's nest.

Johannes had been sitting there for the better part of the last hour, staring wordlessly into the smoldering remains of what had been a pile of bodies before. It was no secret that he was on equal parts seething with rage and stricken with sadness. The literally thick air around him and the total absence of his normally so soothing presence was a clearer indicator as words could have ever been. He did not lash out at anyone else, nor did he lament any further after his talk with Maria and Decker. He did not need to.

Suddenly being near him seemed dangerous again, like walking the planes under a terrible thunderstorm. The rifle clasped by the handguard in his left hand did obviously not much to disperse his foreboding aura.

"Have you found any who went unscathed from the scourge?" He asked, some semblance of fearful anticipation, almost audible in his voice. The soldier lowered his head slightly. Even sitting, the Hunter seemed to dwarf his stature.

"No sir, I am afraid not. Everyone we have encountered was extremely hostile to the point of mania. We anticipated a heavy incursion, sir, but to think there is no one left..." He drifted off while the Hunter nodded silently.

"It is a burden of the craft. To accept that sometimes, there is no one left to safe. Or that one's own faults led to the demise of innocents." He sighed heavily and excused the soldier, who saluted and turned his back to walk off.

Johannes sat there for a while longer, his eyes closed and his breathing low, seemingly lost in thought.

Until he held his breath.

"Good Hunter, I-" Maria, who had appeared from within the church started, but recoiled slightly as the Hunter stood suddenly, his hand held out in a gesture for her to hold it.

"Silence!" He whispered out loudly, his eyes now fixed on a wall, directly in the direction of the harbor. For almost a minute, still, like a radio operator who listened desperately to the static between frequencies. Then suddenly the grip on his gun tightened and his gaze whipped violently over to his trusted companion.

"I feel it!" He exclaimed with excitement that had been dormant for a long time.

"I feel someone, still untouched! This presence... a child, possibly several... in the sea." Without warning he broke into a run, Maria hurrying behind him. Without question, wordlessly, the few soldiers left behind fell into line behind them as they quickly crossed the short distance to the docks.

Allasson's harbor was as old as the town itself. The community had long lived from fishing and as a stepping stone for naval expeditions and merchant vessels towards the north and west. The age was apparent, but the docks were established with finesse and expertise that only long maritime tradition could bring to a table. Now, only a single broken down fishing boat anchored there. The lines long rotted away and the vessel's bow almost completely submerged in the water.

Johannes' hunters had established a hard point just in front of the walkways, leading out to open water, with one of the Greyhounds as a makeshift machinegun-emplacement. Soldiers kneeled or stood against walls, the signs of recent combat still visible over the whole place.

"What now?" Maria asked as they came to a halt. Johannes gazed towards the sea, his eyes fixed on a single point far away under the surface.

"He is coming." He said, a hint of anger slipping into his tone.

"An Old One is coming."


	9. Scharmützel

A.N.: **Mostly battle in this chapter and a segway to another idea. Maybe I should've kept the story shorter. There's killing here though. have fun.**

Scharmützel - Skirmish

Blake's head whipped to the left, towards the window of the rundown house she and the rest if team RWBY had taken refuge in. Most particular, because it was one of few buildings in the town of Alasson that sported a working set of sanitary installations. She however, had just seen something race by the window. The house was good enough insulated that the sounds of several feet smashing the muddled ground in a run, was dampened enough to be overheard pretty easily. Blake was a faunus though and her superior hearing enabled her to not be able to tune that out, even if she tried.

The edge of a black coat with crimson lining, Maria's coat, was barely visible for a fracture of a second, before half a dozen soldiers from Johannes' troupe chased after her. Something was wrong.

Weiss had, by now too realized that something was amiss and had moved over to the window, her weapon in hand. Soon, Yang and Ruby joined them, the younger sister stepping out of the adjacent bathroom, now that she had cleaned and dressed herself again.

"What is goin-" Yang started, staring at Blake's and Weiss' distressed faces, but she was cut short when all of a sudden, a noise drove through the entire village.

It was a low, droning bass, easily powerful enough to move furniture and finally shatter windows out of their frame, making Weiss jump in shock. And it carried on.

When the, long stagnant ceiling fan decided it was time to go and came crashing down in the middle of the room and the, surely valuable service of fine porcelain, that rested in one of the cupboards, splintered into shards on the floor after the glass covers had been destroyed, the group of four figured that it would be safer outside.

Careful and mindful of any more falling objects, all of RWBY hurried out the door into the sad excuse for a street. What had remained of the pavement and cobblestone that alternated as solid for the paths through the town, had been shaken apart by the noise and as it kept on raging, the cracks in the ground became more and more apparent. Weiss turned around to look at the church's clocktower, where she knew, three soldiers were stationed, but she saw none of them. Apparently they had rightfully evacuated the building, now that shingles were dropping from the steep roof.

"The harbor!" Blake called and as there was no need for further elaboration, all of them broke into a sprint.

The hunters were frightening, disciplined and fierce fighters. The elite, formed by handpicking individuals by standards of who was basically an unholy agent of death himself. They were confident and aggressive in most combat situations. Capable of moving under the cover of the dark, noiseless, swift and haunting like ghosts, or hitting hard, like a juggernaut, unstoppable. They had learned from the best.

Now, as Ruby, Yang, Blake and Weiss zoomed past the advancing soldiers, at least with those whose faces were not hidden by a mask, they saw worry. Doubt and even a hint of uncertainty and fear.

When they reached the harbor, most of Johannes' hunters had already gathered there. The Good Hunter himself stood with Maria on one of the piers, staring intently at the bubbling waters. What he said they could not understand.

Guns were readied and orders where relayed in a collected manner. Even though the hunters only amounted to a good platoon, namely thirty two men and women, excluding Cinder and her friends, Maria and Johannes and RWBY themselves, the amount of firepower they had stuffed into the relatively small IFVs was staggering.

Several soldiers dragged coils of barbed wire across the width of streets and chokepoints, others threw up barricades with sandbags, more wire and in some cases, hastily hacked off wooden spikes, that they arranged towards the sea. Their previous encounter with the ruinous powers of this place as precedence for their new strategy.

Looking upwards, Ruby saw Decker, directing a squad of snipers across the roofs, though she herself carried a massive looking assault rifle that Ruby was sure she had seen in Johannes' hands once. Ruby once had thought to see a faint blue mist surround the chief-hunter's hands, very similar to the magic tricks that Johannes and Maria were capable of. But then, how should that have been possible?

A man called Arin, without a last name, Johannes' main engineering officer, who had been working for an Atlesian machining company just a few weeks before, now carried an assault shotgun and yelled orders at other soldiers to set up mounts to fix Atlesian light machine guns and Mistralian Varga 14mm autoguns. He stood atop one of the IFVs, pointing and shouting.

Lastly, Ruby's eyes fell on Hans Kercher. Like a lot of the Good Hunter's soldier's, he had served in the Atlesian military, where he had, like mary Decker, worked in the marine corps and later, special forces. A combat engineer. A knuckledragger in many eyes, but he had been the man who had first tended to Ruby after she had been hit as they had entered Alasson and he had stayed with Yang while she calmed down. Both sisters had to agree though that he groomed his image as an enforcer.

He stood alone, halfway between the docks and the end of the pier where Johannes and Maria stood, his helmet in one and his rifle in the other.

In general, it was an interesting scene, playing out in front of them. The sund was about to set over the horizon, casting glowing red lines on the ocean waves. Seafoam gathered near the shore and docks and dispersed again as the waters gently splashed against it. Ruby saw Maria take the Good Hunter's arm and say something she could not hear, yet she did understand.

"Here." She said. "I can hear the sinister chime."

And then it came to Ruby as well. A noise, almost non-existent, so small it was, but clear as spring water. Sharp as a razor's blade, light as a feather and dark as the night.

A bell. Ruby heard the sinister bell.

"We need to find cover." Blake said, turning her head to see all but RWBY, Johannes and Maria, Cinder and Kercher standing in the open. Cinders eyes were wide, as she stared at a spot of water, just along the sun's reflection on the ocean. It was were Johannes looked, and it was where the ocean was parting.

"Move!" She said with urgency, snapping Weiss and Yang out of the stupor that had held them captive. Ruby was grabbed by Yang and together they stormed the harbormaster's building, upstairs where Decker was.

Hans Kercher turned around. He should not see what he had, he should not grasp what he did, but he did. In few swift moves, his helmet was fixed atop his head, the messy, blood red handprint was starting to dry, becoming a reddish brown. He smiled under his balaclava as he passed Miss Fall and as her eyes, which had been fixed on that... thing, met his. Awe and terror, all in the same gaze.

Cinder moved with him, but parted with him before, because Kercher would man one of the autocannons that dotted the hastily erected defensive line. She would join her companions on the ground floor of an old stoneworker's shop from where she could throw fire without fear of setting everything alight in an instant.

Then the Good Hunter turned around.

/

"You have raised an army." Maria said. Again her tone was gentle, the accent that would never leave her tongue only furthering the sisterly expression.

"You must speak with them." She still held his arm and pushed him gently to turn towards his platoon. Towards the children he had taken from Beacon and towards the three strays, who had braved all fears they had, just to embrace new ones.

The being to which he had been talking, waited patiently, as it was manner among the kin of the cosm. Or as some said, kos, though he refused to speak or think of her name in vain.

The Hunter stood at least one hundred meters from his entourage away. Faces in windows, from behind sandbags and silhouettes from roofs peered at him in tension. The air was thick with promise of blood. He would only say a few words. Just enough.

" _Hunters."_ He spoke calmly, but again, as it had before, his lips seemed to be just at everyone's ears.

 _"Today we meet the first of our enemies. And equally, they meet us."_ He stretched his right arm, just subtly and a large, curved blade, made from black metal and glinting oddly in the light, fell into his hand.

 _"They shall show no pity, as we do not show mercy. They surely do outnumber us, but we meet those numbers with fury."_

To Blake's right, one soldier holding a machinegun at the ready, stomped his foot on the groud and yelled.

 _"We shall break their charge and drive them back into the ocean."_

Suddenly all around them, feet stomped in unison while thirty two voices shouted.

 **"** **AOOH!"** And the rapping of dozens of boots striking stone and wood and soil.

 _"Hunters, the Old One is my prey._ _Kill all others."_

/

Had Cinder not seen the waves part behind the Good Hunter before, she would have fallen in shock.

As he spoke his last lone, the water in front of the docks, erupted in lances of foaming water, as something lunged from under the surface.

Cinder saw the Hunter shift in the distance, take a step aside and swing his free arm fully through, as one of the watery projectiles went right past him and came to a stop at the foor of the pier. It seemed to be some kind of spider crab, but it was much larger than any one of those animals which she had seen before. It's shell was of an unhealthy, pale grey and it's appendages, of which there where very much more than eight, seemed uncannily thin and elongated. Almost as if these feeble contraptions should not be able to carry it's seemingly heavy body.

It did not move for a moment, but then staggered and fell apart, as it had lunged right through the good Hunter's attack. His left arm had changed. Where had been a hand before and where Cinder had expected a gun to be, now a long, complex extremity extended from within his sleeve. While it seemed to be of bare bone, it also looked mechanical in some way and just now, Cinder saw that the "arm" was a segregated, yet interlocking row of blades. A long claw in effect, that could be bent and bowed, to kill more effectively.

Putrid grey sludge expelled from the two halves of the crab and just now, Cinder could tear away her gaze and noticed, that the battle had begun.

Crustaceans stormed towards land, their heavy bodies, enhanced and corrupted versions of their natural cousins, broke cobblestone and wood. Claws opened wide, ready to tear and rip the flesh off the enemy and a near constant chattering of rotting mandibles now filled the air. The largest of the beasts was seven meters in length, weighing probably more than a ton. Yet it had made the fateful choice to storm against Maria.

The girl had stood true for the longest time, her stance only changing occasionally to have better reach against a passing enemy. Now, as an armored beast, the weight of a large car came flying at her, Maria again demonstrated her skill in battle. Ducking below, she turned to led her blade upwards, through the body of the beast as it flew by. It crashed into a pole, on which ships would be taught and came to a stop, thrashing in anger that someone had injured it. But Maria had already seperated her sword into it's two halves and embedded the longer side of the Rakuyo into the creatures back. With the sword buried up until the hild in flesh, she hurled herself up on its back, careful to avoid the spikes on the shell, before reeling back and plunging Rakuyo's dagger into it's head, again and again.

It snapped it's claw after her and she dodged it nimbly. As the claw came back, Maria's eyes widened and she let out a yell, leveraging Rakuyo's sword and cutting the claw off at the stem.

The creature fell silent, as the freeing of Maria's blade, had parted his head. Without another thought, she jumped back in the fray.

/

"Watch the left flank." Decker said rather loudly over the thunder of guns, but Ruby heard her and switched her target. Through Crescent Moon's scope, she saw some of the things scale a wall on a building to their left. The top floor contained a machinegun nest that was tasked with protecting and controlling the flank. Right now, the squad in the window was raking the swarm that emerged from the boiling ocean with incendiary ammunition, but in their position, they had a rather broad blind angle, which some dozen of the creatures used to get to them.

Ruby fired off her twelve round magazine in quick succession, every silver 308. a hit and one dead crab. The smaller ones were easy to kill, but fast and incoherent in their movement, while she had doubts that her ammunition was even enough to penetrate the larger one's shells.

She saw one of the big ones ram into the side of a shop and her stomach turned at the realization that five hunters had been inside. The crash had sent wood and parts of the wall flying in a cloud of dust, but on the ground she thought she saw a foot, just alone in a small puddle, unable to tear her gaze from it.

A scream came from inside, then gunfire, then curses. Out of nowhere, Kercher jumped the creature, kneeling on it's top while firing his machine gun point blank into it's head.

Ruby awoke. Back in the moment. She did not know how long she had been staring, but she saw one of the thing's legs twist and break it's shell, just to get to the soldier on top. It reeled the speartipped leg back and Ruby fired an explosive round.

Her aim was true and the leg's joint splintered apart. Colorless sludge fell on the walls and on the ground, while Kercher was by now hacking at the thing's plate with his combat knife. It screeched and howled in pain and it fixed it's small, beady eyes on her and on her roof. Ruby fired again, hitting it right in the mouth and taking a fair chunk of flesh, as well as one of it's mandibles.

It broke into a sprint, it's disgusting plethora of legs scuttling over the ground, occasionally impaling a smaller beast as the large one was now uncaring and only focused on it's rage towards Ruby. Kercher still held on to it's back, one gloved hand buried in the beast's flesh, as he had managed to tear a small hole into the shell, one hand clutching the combat knive, embetted into the shell as well.

He would need a moment. He had a plan, Ruby knew, as she emptied her lung for another shot.

Three of the abomination's disgusting eyes exploded in a shower of foul essence. It staggered and even though Kercher needed a moment to regain his balance, Ruby saw him punch his hand into the wound and jump off the creature's back. Only seconds after, the crab's body was torn apart by a muffled explosion. Slick strands hung between it's remains and the entrails that now littered the vicinity.

But now Kercher needed to get back to cover and he was unarmed, bare his knive.

Ruby emptied her lung again, focused another enemy and fired.

/

"Show yourself!" Johannes muttered as he cleaved apart another one of these manufactured abominations. The frustration was apparent on his face, even now as thick strands of blood and sludge from these marine beasts covered nearly every part of him. The empty and ravaged shells of these mindless enemies piled up around him, so much that he appeared to make an extra effort to kick the broken corpses from the pier he held.

Another blow, this time with the back of his claw-arm, literally pulverized an opponent's shell, sending it's remains flying towards an abandoned building, where it crashed against one of the walls.

Then suddenly again, silence.

Someone in the back yelled for a medic and soon the report of hurrying feet was heard, but from the occasional mechanical noise of a reload or a weapon check, everything was calm.

All eyes were fixed on the rift in the water, where until shortly before, countless abominations had exited the sea.

Now the ocean seemed to have parted. Where normally tons upon tons of water should have flowed naturally, now the surface just fell, as if separated by a pane of glass. Fish twitched and gasped on the seafloor, critters roamed around, confused as to why their environment had suddenly so changed. The skeletons of men, women and children lay, forgotten and forsaken, strewn about all over the sandy ground. Those who defied the Old One's influence, those who could not bear their gifts and those who had perished on their travels through this part of Vale. Upon their vanishing remains, stood beings, half man, half fish. Some with fins under their arms and on their legs and gills to help them breathe, some with chitinous armor and hairy, spider-like appendages. Their many jaws clicked as they stared up to the one's who dared to defy them.

The valley of water had revealed all that, but the Good Hunter's gaze met only one in particular. For, in front of this new race of men, stood a single woman, naked and of some beauty. Her hair was silver and her skin fair as the moon and as she looked up at the Hunter himself, she smiled warmly, as if looking at an old lover.

Rage came from Johannes. Maria felt it and she had troubles holding herself against the waves of anger, but he controlled it, his experiences having taught him better than to let emotions cloud his judgement. Hunter of God's, slayer of kin.

"The first Hunter himself." She whispered sweetly, each word escaping her lips a promise of glory and beauty beyond imagination.

"You know me." He stated coldly. Each word a growled promise of devastation and death.

"I do, my dear. For what family would I be, would I not know I had a brother. And what sister would I be, would I not desire to meet him and let him bask in our destiny."

No reaction came from Johannes, as he only continued to fix his gaze on her warm eyes.

"Where are they?" He finally said with a voice that betrayed immediate threat should he not know the truth as fast as possible. "I don't feel their presence anymore."

She giggled, her laugh like a thousand bells, evicting every thought of suffering from the minds and hearts of those around.

"They were here." She said. "They are me. And I am them. They have never been real, but I knew you would run to be at their side. Benevolent you are indeed, a true sign that my trust is not misplaced."

Maria clenched her teeth as now, Johannes' rage finally reached her. His hate taking over her senses and directing her mind towards the murderous things that dared to stand atop innocent bodies, defiled now by their mere presence. Their mere existence. Leather strained as her hands came close to breaking the Rakuyo's hilt.

"Do not belittle me. You do not deserve to wear this face." Johannes hissed.

"I don't. Do not worry." The woman said and with a sound like the crack of a whip, she vanished and was before him, striking him across the face that immediately became a fine mist of red.

"NO!" Maria screamed, shock in her voice and terror in her eyes as she saw the Hunter's headless corpse topple and fall under the, now unfeeling gaze of the white woman. "No." She whispered as realization hit her. She knew of his mastery over the dream, but never had she been witness to it being actually necessary. She feared it may not be enough.

"Kill them" The woman said and from beyond the surface, the fishmen started to rage and rumble. Feet pattering on the ocean floor, claws striking stone and scratching wood as they scaled the piers and screeches of hate as they stormed the dock and pressed towards the hunters.

A single shot rang out, that of Blake Belladonna's pistol and a head of one of the attackers snapped back, dark red painting the floor behind it. She had tears in her eyes, but with the Good Hunter's corpse still lying still, her mind was only filled with the desire to inflict pain. As she readied her sword mid-fall and prepared to dive headfirst into the writhing mass, she didn't even hear the deafening thunder of gunfire that erupted now behind her.

One by one, every shot a kill, until her ammunition was spent, Ruby joined behind Yang. The blonde was most adept at close quarters combat, even enhanced by her weapon of choice, Ember Celica, which now spat slugs, fire dust and twelve gauge at anyone foolish enough to get in her range. A hatchet flew past Ruby and she turned, assessed and followed through with her scythe, beheading one, literally disarming a second and finally, vertically bisecting a third bestial creature. She did not know for how long this went on, but she could feel her hands become slick with blood and her body grow tired. Only hate kept her upright. Only contempt kept her moving.

Lances of ice erupted from the ground as Weiss Schnee dashed from side to side. The clean shards of frozen water red with whatever came from the wounds of those impaled on their tips, glyphs below altering and strengthening gravity and pulling the bodies further down their icy blades.

Still, these beasts were faster, stronger and more cunning than the mindless crustaceans that had been the first assault. They weaved and ducked, sought cover and seemed to communicate among each other, directing groups to flank, storm and shield each other. Though their weapons were crude and mostly consisted of hatchets, primitive blades and pikes, it was lethal to ignore the occasional firearm, or even the rather large stationery gun that was now being carried up one of the piers.

Blake had just retracted her weapon's tether, effectively decapitating a fishwoman and knocking another off the pier, as she saw a trio of enemies loading a large shell into the piece of artillery. Ducking forward, she dashed forward, but was too slow to reach the weapon before fire.

With a mighty roar, the ancient ship's cannon expelled uncountable pieces of shrapnel towards the defenders. Pebbles, shards of metal, cutlery, coins and rotten mechanical parts cuth a swath through attacker and defender alike. At least six hunters were torn to pieces by the underhanded firepower and even though all others attacked fiercely and valiantly, the loss was apparent.

Blake had rolled to her right to evade the cone of fire and she had used her catlike reflexes and control over her body, to regain her footing within a second. She had however, not seen the dozens of abominable arms that belonged to fishmen on the pier's side. Within a moment, she was in their grasp, hands grabbing from all sides, fixing her in place, holding her face. She tried to scream, but one of the beasts clogged her mouth with it's hand and did not budge, even as she bit down hard and drew blood.

The greedy fingers dug into her flesh, scratching her skin, ripping her clothes and bending her limbs to the edge of breaking. Finally she managed to scream. A cry for help for her comrades to either save her from this fate, or end her suffering with a merciful bullet. She saw Yang's panicked stare, as she renewed her assault on the beings between them both, but she would be late and all others fought for their own lives.

Suddenly, a door on one of the buildings exploded from it's frame with a terrifying thunderclap. A large wooden piece sailed forward and only by luck, Blake had enough freedom of movement to duck her head from the incoming projectile. The door raced past her, above her head, smeared with blood as it smashed the skulls of four beasts to pieces and continued forward, skipping twice on the ocean waves, before crashing and sinking.

 ** _"You annoy me."_** A seething whisper came forth, violins cutting into flesh and thunder shattering teeth and bone alike. The man Blake had seen die, demonstrated his undeath, his coat's right shoulder still covered in crimson dew and nothing left of the graceful swagger with which he normally carried himself.

He strode from the ruined door frame, his shoulders hunched, his knees bent, his mask over his face as his eyes contorted in viciousness. Intent to maim, to slay, to rip and tear, piercing from his eyes.

A fishman approached him, uncaring of the inevitable terror that would befall it and raised it's machete for an overhead strike. It found only thin air, as the Hunter had vanished into nothing, just to appear one blink of an eye later inside the beast's guard. Twisting his torso, he ripped his hand out of the thing's chest, tearing it's midsection in half and flinging the remains a good dozen meters to his left.

Blood rained from the sky as all heads turned to the reemerged killer. Razorteeth ground against themselves, while the enemy took stances and readied itself for a charge. A charge that was bound to end in their death.

The woman chuckled. An uncanny, distant laugh that sounded as if it originated from high above, but over the brave fighters and the disgusting abominations, only a white, full moon cast it's light through the crimson sky.

 _"So you still walk the dream."_ She cooed as if impressed. _"I would have thought a mere mortal would have cast the mantle of the hunt as soon as the possibility presented itself."_ The sea, which had closed itself again as she had risen from the ocean, began to boil again, silvery arms erupting from the disturbed surface, holding blades of gargantuan size. Each one thin and seemingly brittle, reached easily ten meters in length and from the back, vicious teeth glinted dangerously in the moonlight.

 _"Brother!"_ She almost spat the word. _"Know your place in the face of the cosmos!"_

Two of the countless blades whipped forward, raking the pier and shaving off rubble and bodies on each side. They flew with incredible speed, so that Blake had not been able to follow them as they passed overhead. Instead she only heard the deafening screeching of the impact and the painful howl of the woman as she looked to the Good Hunter and saw the blades had burst into needlethin shards and her silver arms flailed away from him, now split and torn apart into a grotesque bouquet of bloodied strings of flesh and splintered bone.

 ** _"This is not the cosmos."_** Johannes bellowed, his form contorting and his shadow twisting apart into something entirely inhuman.

 ** _"This is not your ground, if I don't allow it."_** His image cracked down the middle, as if he was made of glass, but the rupture carried on upwards, beyond his form, as reality itself seemed to shatter open and pieces fell from high above, never hitting the ground.

Eyes peered from under a black hood, to many to count and rows upon rows of sharkish teeth glinted in the darkness. A sinister smile that, would Blake not have glimpsed the true Hunter before, would have thrown her into madness without mercy. A good dozen eyeballs aimed themselves at her and she felt... warm, sheltered, as more and more of the hulking monstrosity revealed itself to her.

Blake knew only she saw. Blake knew that this was their secret. His test for her to prove herself worthy of his trust. And she held fast, covering her sensitive ears.

The rows of blades parted, the jaw unhinged and the ground shook, as the bestial god emitted a piercing scream that seemed to endure for minutes on end. Waves of the ocean were pushed back into open water. Those abominations who stood to close to the edge, were pushed into the sea, while those unlucky enough to be too close and in the way, were simply shaken apart by the unholy force of the shockwaves, leaving nothing behind that could be identified as a living organism.

From the woman's expression, Blake knew the fight was over. As the Hunter finished his cry and broke into a sprint, fishmen flew into the air, sheared apart by unseen blades, whipped away and utterly shattered by invisible arms, or simply crushed to sludge by a force that hid itself from any human, or faunus eye.

The remaining few tried to turn and flee, but the soldier's discipline had returned. Fire lanced from all windows and the creatures were cut down in the merciless hailstorm of lead and fire. But Blake could only stare.

Where the woman should have stood, now a terrible, white snake reached out of the water, with small, insectoid wings protruding in the dozens from it's back, breaking the moonlight into mesmerizing rainbows. From a protrusion from it's face, hung the limp body of the woman, like the lantern of an anglerfish. It's chest had fallen open, revealing a set of vertical jaws, with rows of claw-like, crooked teeth that seemed to reach out on their own and the silver arms, those which had not been devastated by the Hunter's attack, attached to the sides, four each and swinging wildly at the incoming blur of black and blood that was Johannes.

Utterly disinterested in the slaughter behind her, Blake saw as the laughably tiny form of the Hunter flew into the air and reeled his hand back. A disturbance in the air, much in the form of a much larger limb, snapped back, following the man's hand perfectly, before colliding with the snakes mouth and blowing a hole the size of a small car, clean through it's back. Through this opening, Johannes was quick on it's back, the swordarms trying to get him in their confusion, but he had already struck again himself, as the snakes supposed head, blew open, laserclean cuts seperating it vertically and two horrifically large halves of bone and flesh crashed to the ground, expelling copious amounts of blood and gore.

The snake rose higher, still not in its deaththrows and revealed a bulbous body as large as a freighter. The water drew back as the it flowed back into the space where the thing had sat and new waves crashed together, mixing with the blood and keeping pink foam afloat.

By now the hunters too had opened fire, but even though the heavy autoguns managed to draw little blood, the monster did not even seem to notice the rather small harassment. Soon another thundering sound was heard and a fountain of flesh, blood and bone erupted from the front of the behemoth, covering the entire harbor and all who stood there in a thorough layer of blackish red ooze.

As the sky turned black and the moon turned red, the battle almost took to the heavens, as the snake lifted almost its entire length, which must have amounted to a good half of a kilometre, into the air, shrieking in pain and fear, as the Hunter whipped up and down it's body, destroying organs, disrupting blood vessels and shattering bone.

Dark red rain fell from above and down on the ground, the enemy had been defeated and hundreds upon hundreds of dead bodies lay piled and scattered over the place, All who had survived watched the slaughter that took place on the ocean. Maria was at the end of a pier and hunters, those who lived exited the cover of the buildings to see the massacre.

With it's last shivers, one of the terrible arms whipped forth, parting and levelling buildings as it collided with weak stone and wood. Dust flew over the docks, taking everyone's vision, so no one realised that the appendage continued to skip over the wet ground. Not until the pained cries of dozens echoed between the ruined walls.

Then suddenly, the snake became rigid, unmoving and several stomachs in the stunned crowd of chaotic onlookers emptied as the leviathan split open in the middle as a valley opened in it's flesh, right up to the very top and the two halves too, began to flail and whither, until their cyclopean weight pulled them back into the sea. The fight seemed won as the water crashed over the cyclopean corpse, but as the dust settled, the price of this single victory became apparent.

Blake sprinted back to the docks, towards the unmoving form of Yang. Weiss knelt nearby, holding her side, but seemingly okay for now. Within moments, Blake was with her partner.

"Yang!" She yelled as she saw the large cash that ran along the blonde's stomach, parting her midsection.

"Medic!" She screamed, making Weiss lift her head. Her skin paled even more upon seeing what had been done to the brawler. She looked around, seeing only dazed figures moving through the settling dust. One man on the edge of the pier was shambling around, seemingly without motivation until he bent down to pick up his severed arm. Another one was laughing, looking down to discover that he had been cut in half. Several screamed. Most were silent. Only four medics remained and they were overencumbered with the dying. They didn't even hear Blake's yells, as she tried to keep pressure on the spilling wound.

Someone stomped over, fiddling with the straps of his helmet before pulling it off and tossing it to the side. The hulking form of heavily armored Hans Kercher walked up to them, heavily cursing in old Atlesian dialect, before kneeling down.

"Her guts are okay." He said. "Shit just got muscle. I've seen worse." He looked up at Blake, his eyes stern. He was not trying to play it down. He had.

"Keep applying pressure. We need to keep her from bleeding out. Her aura's been overpowered. She wouldn't even notice." He grumbled, while he reached into a pouch on his vest.

"S'gonna hurt." He said and poured a white powder from a small packet on the wound. It sizzled and steamed and Blake hissed slightly as some of it came on her finger. It burned horribly and it smelled like gunpowder, but the bleeding lessened.

"Keep the wound shut! Make sure she's breathing." The soldier commanded before hurrying over to one of the ruined emplacements. He came back with a trio of dirty sandbags, which he stacked and placed under the girl's calves, raising her legs up. He then proceeded to wrap Yang's midsection in a thick layer of gauze, staunching the bleeding.

"Where is Rose?" He finally asked, just as he was about finished. Weiss now stood by them, barely holding back tears. She shivered, while clasping something in her dirtied hands. A strap of red cloth, cut off by the terrible blade in the monster's last dying breath.

Kercher just looked down at the trembling young woman.

"Oh shit."

/

 _"Heaven forbid, I can not place more guilt on anyone other than myself for the death of these brave souls. Surely, better judgement from my person could have saved many. However, I am not that naive anymore as to think their sacrifice not inevitable. I have made an error however. A platoon won't be enough._

 _I need an army."_

 _-Johannes the Swordsmith_

 _First Hunter_

 _/_

Ruby awoke again, coughing up ashes and blood as she slowly crawled to her knees. The world around her screamed and tugged at her. Fire crashed to the ground in the distance, turning skyscrapers to rubble and large trees to ash.

She looked to her left and right, where soldiers stood. Not the hunters, but more intimidating, if the all black uniform and bodyarmor was not scary enough.

These one were heavily armoured, with thick sections of kevlar and plate covering their bodies. The armour was black, while the uniform was dark grey, a crimson piece of cloth, was wrapped around every shoulder and by some, used as hoods that threw shade of their faces under the flickering light of a tall tree in the back, furiously aflame in phosphorous fire.

Their faces.

Each wore the visage of death. Half face, half skull, weary eyes peering out from the mask's eye sockets. Weary, but full of rage. Somewhere in the front, a black standard stood upright, it's sigil flapping lazily in the wind, adorned with the strange upside down rune of the Hunter. Behind that, Ruby could see the massive silhouette of a heavy FlaK tank, it's four pairs of twinlinked autocannons pointing upwards menacingly and on top of the tank, someone stood.

A woman, brandishing a large, crimson scythe. Her short cape swaying with the breeze. This was her. This was an older Ruby, looking forth upon the burning city.

A man stepped out of the shadows. The mask hid his face, but Ruby recognized his voice. He did not yell, nor did he speak with any enthusiasm. His speech was short and cold.

"Be ready. They have all been lost. This will be mercy." Kercher said and all around Ruby, the soldiers slammed their armored fists against their chestplate, erupting in a violent, single noise.

As the group took up arms, as rifles were readied, sights switched on, equipment, magazines and armor plates were scrutinized one last time, old Ruby turned around on top of the tank. Her eyes locked with Ruby's as both of them, the same, stared at each other.

"What the fu-"

/

"What the fuck?" Decker stated more than she asked as she burrowed her way out of the destroyed building. It was the same one that Johannes had strolled out off after he had been decapitated and now Decker knew why. She still did not quite understand the inner workings of the dream, but she knew, somehow, it prevented one from dying... permanently at least.

From what she remembered, the blade that had bounced off the stone ground must have sheared her head in half. She had seen it coming horizontally and directly at her eyes, before everything became dark and she awoke in the dream. She had seen the workshop in disarray as if someone had been raging in it. Vials, tools and wepons had been lying all over the ground and the door had been punched into splinters. She could muster a guess at who did that, but she wouldn't even have thought the Hunter capable of such a violent outburst.

A headstone at the end of the long row of graves had caught her eye. While the others were withered and some even broken, this one had been brand new, made from bronze marble and bearing only a single inscription - Alasson.

As soon as she had made sure that her equipment was topped up, she had travelled back, only to find the lantern burrowed deep in rubble. Clawing her way out of the rubble and dead bodies of crabs and fishmen, she finally found her way into the red moonlight, where she saw the aftermath of the final, desperate attack.

Blood and limbs of her comrades, strewn about the floor, the sickening stench of the dead abominations and the feeling of untamed dread as she caught a glimpse of the... thing that was the Good Hunter, standing on the end of the pier.

It stood easily twelve meters tall, a poor caricature of a human silhouette. Spindly but powerful legs, wrought in black steel and leather held the creature upright. A thick, tattered cloak obscured most of it's form and it's arms held several menacing looking blades, each hooked and serrated to inflict the worst possible damages.

When she blinked, it was gone, replaced with the slender form of Johannes, covered in thick blood and seemingly unarmed. Even though she knew that presuming the man unarmed at any time was plain wrong.

He turned and strode down the cobblestone path towards where Weiss Schnee and Hans Kercher were searching frantically in the rubble for something. The closer he came, the more the air seemed to glimmer as if looking towards the horizon on a hot day. His strides were long and his steps thunderous. More than once, his boots smashed a lifeless body before him, unable to hinder his purposeful walk.

Hate and unrefined anger radiated off of him. Remorse and bottomless sadness, even for the creatures around him, but flaming rage directed at... something. Sharp and focused like a needle, it pierced past her, somewhere in the void. When the Hunter had been dangerous before, he was now something entirely else, something inevitable.

He stationed himself close to the searching pair. The Schnee had now openly begun crying, while Kercher unenthusiastically pulled debris apart, wary of what he might find behind them.

The Hunter climbed a large pile and kneeled, picking something from the rubble. A piece. A finger's digit, pale and small and it's nail painted Ruby Rose's signature red.

Weiss Schnee collapsed to her knees, a blank stare in her eyes, Blake Belladonna bowed her head, quietly dripping tears. Kercher yelled something and kicked at a rock in rage. Still, it hit Decker stronger than she anticipated.

She had not known her well enough to call her a friend, but all four huntresses were Johannes' protegées and as such, her's. A lighthearted girl, with issues for one much older and some for one much younger. But something was with the way that Johannes stared at the disembodied fingertip. His focus was palpable even from such a distance and suddenly, Decker felt somethin that she had not expected from him.

Relief.

 **A.N.: Not much character in this chapter. Sorry.**


	10. Havens Ende

_We had thought we would wage war against the old ones. In fact we only waged war against one. After the investigation of the blessed inspector Grey into that cursed cult of degenerates, we know more, even though my hazard at a guess that maybe we should have died in ignorance, still stands. The hunters are everywhere now. Small detachments only, sure, moving amongst the regular forces of Atlas, Vale and Mistral, but even a fool would realize their superiority over these common soldiers when it comes to coordination, firepower and lethality. Eyewitnesses say that these men and women literally flow around the enemy, killing without a second thought and with an efficiency that is only rivaled by the stiff obedience of Atlesian Combat Drones. It is strange, really, when soldiers similarly sigh in relief upon seeing these skullfaced soldiers on the battlefield and hold their breath in cautious fear. They are not the first, nor the last to think these angels of death to not be entirely human, or even, not human at all._

Understandably, Yang had not left her room in the rather luxurious apartment building on Main Avenue in the Vale capitol since they had arrived. For all she knew, her sister, her closest friend, her family, was dead and in Blake's opinion, the Hunter's behaviour did not help much.

He had endured punches, swears, accusations and hateful glares without ever doing so much as trying to calm her down with gentle words. He promised her that Ruby was not gone. She was down there, in the dream somewhere, he'd just have to find her. Hard to imagine Yang Xiao Long to just accept this and wait. She would try everything she could, sooner or later. But for now, she was grieving.

Blake slid through the half open door of Johannes' room and looked around. All over the walls, the floor, the two desks and any other available surfaces lay books, scriptures, notes and strange artefacts of unknowable origin. As far as Blake saw, most of the material was written in a plethora of different scripts and languages and it was hard to find two documents that shared them. The notes that were strewn about would have been enough to fill a lexicon on their own and she could only imagine how frantic Johannes must've worked during the last thirty days since their return.

She took a few steps into the room. To her right, she saw the form of a complex and incredibly detailed pentagram, stretched over a large area of the wooden floor. Parts of it were drawn in ink, some apparently fabricated with wax and the rest, from the half to the most inner circle, were painted in blood. His blood, she deduced somehow. Yet, even though she wanted to study the piece further, a nauseous feeling came over her and she felt unable to will herself further towards the unholy symbols. To her left it was dark. While a lonely desklamp and numerous heatless candles illuminated large parts of the room, to her left, all the light seemed to vanish in near black emptiness that even her eyes couldn't pierce. Inviting in a way, the thought of nothingness, she thought and immediately asked herself why.

Still, the bow which hid her ears, which she wore now more out of a feeling of familiarity than necessity, twitched in anticipation as she stepped towards the abyss. It was warm, but comfortably, the air felt fresher here. Safety was in the dark. No matter what happened to her, he would be there, still not infallible, but strong and secure nonetheless.

She knew, she saw that he hated himself for what happened to Ruby, even though he has genuinely sure to be able to retrieve her. A few steps further. His presence was strong here, but she still could not see a thing. She should've stumbled by now. Knocked over something or at least shuffled some papers. She raised her brow in wonder as something brushed her leg that she identified as grass. Even though she was sure she had not left the building, from somewhere, light fell, rather suddenly, into the black nothingness.

the ground was wooden, like everywhere in the old but meticulously refurbished apartment complex, but the parquet flooring was cracked and falling away in some places. In the gaps, white grass grew out and over. Blake was sure to hear the faint chirps of distant cicadas.

The further she went, more strange flora dominated the space. She knew the room should not be this large, but she guessed that there were things she could not yet understand. The ground was now covered entirely in the white grass, it's blades high and tall, caressing her skin as she went by. Here and there, their numbers growing, thick black trees broke into contrast, from which equally white leaves hung as if heavy with morning dew.

She reached a clearing after the indoor forest had grown impressively dense. There, on a wide oakwood table, more documents and notes were strewn about, all surrounding a peculiar little glass container and a weapon that Blake identified as Ruby's Crescent Moon.

It was badly damaged, carefully propped up on a pair of glass stands, so that it seemed a bit as if the elaborate piece of machinery was levitating over the wooden surface. She cast a look at the jar that was next to it, but quickly looked away. It contained Ruby's severed fingertip, preserved in some clear liquid that swirled with milky strands like soap.

She turned around and found him. At the rim of the clearing, weirdly naturally, stood a long and deep couch, with comfortable looking pillows of which some had fallen off onto the floor. On it, limbs stretched about, Johannes was lying, eyes closed and his features relaxed. He had cast off his coat and even the belts and harness that housed some of his weapons and tools. He had also taken off his boots, which Blake realised, were inelegant, heavy military shoes, steeltipped and made from thick, synthetic leather. They had always looked more slender on him, like dress shoes, or riding boots that nobles would wear on a stroll.

He was half covered in a thin blanket that he had draped close to his body, his head resting on a pillow, under which one of his hands had been tucked.

Blake's heart was picking up pace. This was the most intimate sight she had ever gotten of the Good Hunter and it felt weird not knowing if he was aware of her presence or not.

Slowly, she approached the Hunter's resting place until she stood directly before him. He did not move, nor was it obvious if he was even breathing, as his chest did not rise and fall, as it was normal. Then again, he had the ability to stand uncannily still at times, making him look more like an intimidating fashion doll, than a living being.

She sat down, next to him, her upper body propped up on her arms and hands, as she eyed him some more.

She should probably just go, leave him to his sleep, let him concentrate on the task that was before him. Getting her teamleader back. Getting her friend back.

It was only a tiny pang of guilt that fired up as she tilted to the side and lay down on the broad couch. It was comfortable, really. She felt his shoulder twitch as she rested her head on his upper arm, facing away from him. She saw his hand flex slightly in front of her and crept her own hand towards it.

Her eyes went wide when she reached his palm with her own and he closed his hand gently over hers. Her heart was hammering like marching artillery fire, her bow twitching involuntarily, but that was still not the end of it.

Rolling over to the side, he came even closer and lifted his right arm to rest it on her side and shoulders. Just now she realised how tall Johannes was really, his forearm nearly as long as her entire upper body. His scent was now clearer than before, carrying the smell of grass and fresh water to her nostrils. Somehow, she did not dare to move, but she heard his quiet breath next to her ear.

They stayed like this for a while, with her, half marvelling his presence, half fearing if this brought any consequences.

"Not quite the time, isn't it, miss Belladonna?" He whispered into her neck and the hairs on her skin stood up from the gentle vibrations that flowed through her. What was she doing here? Sure, they had talked. Long discussions about the meaning of freedom, of life and death, violence and love, yet she did not know him at all. He was possibly fifteen or sixteen times older than her. He wasn't even human anymore.

Yet, her feelings towards him, Johannes, weren't easy to grasp. It was not love like a couple felt for each other, she thought, not adoration for a god. It was like finding the perfect clearing in a forest, the perfect spot on a cliff, or a gentle hill in the meadows. Somewhere she could make a home out of, somewhere she would, sometime soon, not feel the need to run and hide. No need to fight and kill, but just... live.

She shuddered lightly as she realised that this was exactly was love was, without further conditions to give or take, or tasks to overcome. Just acceptance and mutual warmth and the knowledge that... deeper that this, she would never fall towards the abyss.

"How was she?" She suddenly asked and she heard him shift slightly behind her. For a few, agonizingly long moments, he didn't speak a word, nor breath or move further. She almost feared that she had said something to insult him and that he would push her away now any moment. But when he finally spoke, she chided herself for thinking of him as such. She was unsure if it was even possible to insult him in an accident.

"She was..." He started slowly. "...kind. And helpful. She was scared of me for a long time, as I had committed incredible violence in her home. And even though she had been ostracized for her gifts and forced to live in Hemwick, it had at some point grown to her. Not because of enjoyment, but of familiarity."

He breathed slowly, gently and absentmindedly patting Blakes shoulder with his hand.

"But she was curious. Too much for her own good. I had entrusted to her the secrets of many old scripts and with it, the dangerous knowledge that lies within many corresponding texts and journals. It was foolish of me to burden her with such trust, though she always only wanted to help. I believe she honestly believes her doings to be righteous. Even until today."

Blake turned her head, glimpsing over her shoulder. The Hunter just stared forward, seemingly lost in thought, but she knew that noone could truly ever know what he saw and what not.

"She is alive?"

"Oh yes she is. She has... changed. If you know it or not, you and your friends have faced her before, even if only by extension when combating the White Fang."

She tensed up. Her involvement with the Fang is surely no secret to him. Maybe he knew. She hoped he wouldn't care. Blake reached across her chest with her left hand and put it under his, resting on her right shoulder.

"Why did you come here, Blake?" It sounded weird coming from him, since he had always called her 'miss Belladonna', but it was welcome nonetheless.

"I don't know." She lied.

/

Ruby was out of breath. It had been quite some time since she had felt so exhausted, since she kept her body and her aura in peak condition. Nevertheless, this evening might be the most taxing she had ever endured. She glimpsed the red hood of a fellow hunter and dropped backwards, letting herself slide down the steep walls of the trench. The hunter to her right depressed the trigger of his LMG, letting out burst after burst of automatic fire.

Ruby pawed for the scope that she had strapped to one of the many loops on her new vest. With all the new gear, her petite form had quickly vanished under ballistic plates, shoulder and thigh armor and a kevlar collar that hid her slender neck. She did not wear the masks of the regular hunters, though she made a point of keeping her crimson cape.

Looking through the scope, she followed the blueish green tracers that cut through the evening red sky, to see a cultist pop up from a trench in the distance, the peaked cowl contrasting starkly with the dark environment. She had learned by now that the cult consisted mostly of reluctantly indoctrinated humans and some faunus. The process of brainwashing they had to endure was harsh and it left a lot of them damaged. Thusly, a lot of them were either not that clever, or, in absence of a better word, insane.

Any normal individual had done their damned best to keep their head down under such oppressing fire, but not this one. Ruby winced as she saw the white cloth cave inward and bulge unnaturally as the 7.62 jacketed hollow point popped the man's head like a watermelon.

The hunter stopped shooting.

"Where is the rest of the group?" Ruby almost yelled, her ears still ringing. The hunter did not answer.

"Hey!" She grabbed his shoulder and halted as his head slumped forward into the dirt. The arm under the sleeve felt shallow, thin and too hard. Ruby put the scope away and drew her pistol from her thigh. Cautiously she took hold of his vest and pushed. He turned around easily.

Empty sockets stared at her from what Ruby saw was not just the frightening mask that the hunters used, but only a skeleton inside that armor. She drew her hand back and sat down, swallowing hard. Not this again.

It was silent. The firing had stopped, the wind had stopped, even the fires had gone out. She was alone in a field of corpses, swivelling her head around to gain her bearings.

She stood up, her gun hanging lazily at her hip, too scared to look up at the sky, where she knew the thing was, looking down on her.

But she had to. She knew this would not end until she faced it and listened to its damn song. This gentle, but oh so revolting play of bells that always made her stomach churn and her body contort as she retched to regain herself.

She tentatively raised her head, sweat rolling down her forehead, even though it was cold out here. Further and further upwards, until she saw it.

The empty hole where a face should have been, the spindly wings that shouldn't have kept it afloat, even if they had been moving. The numerous multijointed, skeletal arms that hung loosely off its shoulders, chest and waist and the segmented tail that swung gently with it's swaying.

It was white, but not a clean white. More a sickly greenish white, like bloodless and infected flesh. Dark blue and purple bloodvessels drew lines across it's vile body like cracks in marble. She had seen it many times now. Listened to it and endured it as it flung her back to the night when she had first awoken here. Back to herself, older Ruby and the other hunters that had listened to her speech. Back to her first engagement with the enemy, the Grimm that she had hoped she would never encounter. These, that displayed such uncanny human intellect and appearance, but were devoid of any soul and any emotion. And then the people that followed them.

Some twisted more, some resembling normal people, save for the eyes. These eyes, among all of them, broken in and dull from the things that had been bestowed on them. She had wept at first, only barely avoided being consumed by regret, until she knew, realised, that these people weren't people at all. They were puppets. Crazed and beyond any help, to do the bidding of that blasted thing in the sky.

She had attacked it before. Even reached it and put her scythe to it, before she was obliterated and thrown back in time again. Dozens of times, she had faced it and had been killed. Maimed, stabbed, ripped apart and clubbed to death by it's titanic limbs. It was eating away at her, but whatever she did, nothing would spare her from opposing this horrible beast, always looming beyond the horizon.

Frantically, Ruby looked around, her head swivelling from left to right and behind her. Nothing had changed. Nothing at all. She would die, again.

But she would fight tooth and nail.

Fire and ash swathed around her as she dodged in and out, rose petals flying and blood splattering. The thing was too fast for it's size, too vast for her weapon, but she hoped still, hoped that she could wear it down. Again she dove to the side, Crescent Rose barking armor piercing full metal jacket, littering the ground with steaming bullet casings.

She gained speed, slowly and uncannily, even though her bones protested and her guts felt like liquid. Bit by bit, she memorized the monster, it's movements, where it shielded itself when she struck and what attacks it preferred.

Still it was not enough. The beasts enormous arm sweeped across the battlefield, arched and bent to cut off her routes of escape. She sped upwards, towards the sky, but her desperate attempt was not rewarded. She was caught by the sheer force of several tons of flesh and bones, flung up and falling down, crumbling as she collided with the ground. This was it. Again.

She allowed herself to cry. Tears mixing with blood and whatever the abomination oozed from it's wounds. Half awake, her legs no longer under her control, she could only watch as the being lifted one of it's clawed foots, before letting it crash down on her battered body.

Then, silence.

Ruby was out of breath. It had been quite some time since she had felt so exhausted, since she kept her body and her aura in peak condition. Nevertheless, this evening might be the most taxing she had ever endured. She glimpsed the red hood of a fellow hunter and dropped backwards, letting herself slide down the steep walls of the trench. The hunter to her right depressed the trigger of his LMG, letting out burst after burst of automatic fire.

Ruby pawed for the scope that she had strapped to one of the many loops on her new vest. With all the new gear, her petite form had quickly vanished under ballistic plates, shoulder and thigh armor and a kevlar collar that hid her slender neck. She did not wear the masks of the regular hunters, though she made a point of keeping her crimson cape.

Looking through the scope, she followed the blueish green tracers that cut through the evening red sky, to see something... different.

A bird sat, not even ten meters from her, perched up on the broken barrel of a smoking machine gun emplacement. It was a crow, she was sure and as it turned it's head, frantically as birds do, she saw that, this one, possessed only one eye. The other was a glimmering hole of yellow ember that seemed to seer sharper and deeper and even stronger than even the phosphorous fires of the incendiary shells that fell each day.

The scope that she had been clutching, splashed into the dirt at her feet and she staggered a few steps back. The bird tilted it's head and slightly shook it's wings. It could have been from dirt, but to Ruby it seemed as if the crow was shivering in satisfaction.

Something had changed. She had changed it. She was not lost.

/

Blake was almost dropped from the couch she had been sleeping on. Where was she? Hadn't she been with Johannes in his weird monochrome forest? Where had that gone? Where was he and his calm, radiating warmth?

She opened her eyes to the sight of the Hunter's office, still littered and chaotic, but now, suddenly illuminated by the ceiling lamps. Johannes was awake and he was excited, stomping over to his desk, which was now far closer and directly between the table that accommodated Crescent Rose and Ruby's severed finger. Blake recuperated fast from her brief loss of orientation and stood up, gently patting down her shirt to remove the wrinkles. Slowly she closed in on the Hunter, who was now in the process of frantically flipping through pages of an old tome, while apparently comparing it with a stack of notes on his other side. The words "Obvious", "Disappointing", "Stupid" and "Simple" came to her ears in a tone that could only mean that he was chastising himself for a grave oversight.

"Johannes?" She asked tentatively, still at least ten paces from him. He closed the gap in three, gripping her by her shoulders and fixating her in that penetrating gaze of him. Almost maniacally.

"What is it?" She whispered, intimidated. She would have to lie to say that his demeanour was not at least a bit scaring.

He looked at her, then at his scribbles at the table and then back to her.

"The... labyrinth..." He said. "The chalices, the dreams..." He sounded like a madman before he caught himself somewhat and continued quietly, but with no less urgency.

"I've found her. I know where Ruby is."

/

Roman Torchwick was a somewhat respected figure in the criminal underworld of Vale and by further extension, Remnant. Most of his colleagues were vary of him and his lack of loyalties, but when a job needed doing, Torchwick was one of the top tier contractors to find. Extraction, infiltration, sabotage and theft were only a few of his long list of capabilities and he was somewhat proud to have taken part in at least one government operation and several covert endeavours of the SDC. Not that he'd brag about it. If he had any principle, it was confidentiality.

At this moment, he was spending time in one of his less despised etablissements, which was Junior's club in Vale's industrial district. Here, perched up on his favourite seat, far above the sweaty and epileptic crowd, he tended to enjoy some sort of privacy and maybe a mild alcoholic beverage or two. The lounge was shared with him by Junior's two unlikely bouncers, the twin sisters Melanie and Militiades Malachite and his ever so trustworthy own lieutenant, Neo. And while he was sure that the two sister were, at their core at least, gentle souls, he knew better about his own company, as he was very acutely aware of the violence that Neo was able to wreak, despite her controlled demeanour and lack of speech.

Torchwick controlled his own environment by exploiting a very effective method of defense, which was comprised of deep knowledge of nearly everyone's relationship to each other, a lack of scruples when it cames to his own protection and most importantly, a package of information on very important people that was bound to release in a dead man's protocol and had the power of a political equivalent to a nuclear bomb. If something should happen to him, some very important people would be in horrible situations.

Of course there were those who did not care for the political implications of his death, such as the white fang, or the bandits that ganged up in almost any significant population. But his shield and sword would, for as long as he wished, be the executive forces of those he had dirt on, which was almost everyone.

He looked around shortly as the room darkened and the music adopted a darker tone. Obviously it was now past eleven, so Junior's "evening program", as some called it, would start. Most others would call it an orgy. Fittingly, the large space that housed the main floor, was dipped in a deep red light, as primal beats pumped rhythmically from the enormous speakers.

From his place, he could see Melanie and Militiades, Junior's top lieutenants, get up from their chairs in another part of the room and move towards the stairs down. They were young and somewhat fragile when it came to certain themes, so around this time of the evening, they would request Junior's permission to wait in the staff areas. He usually obliged. Though with some distaste, Torchwick had already seen them being used as eyecandy or company for certain... customers. He didn't think Junior would sell them outright, but something about seeing their slender bodies against the fat and wrinkles of overaged politicians and their emotionless visages then, that made his skin crawl.

Melanie had just reached the stairs when she stopped, Militiades with her. They looked at something downstairs and suddenly Torchwick was gripped by intense curiosity about what it was.

So he got up and looked.

There, in the spastic crowd of ecstatic, shaking, grinding people, was a figure of some height. A man. He stood still, the persons around him seemingly only barely avoiding contact, unmoving, immovable and he was staring right up at them.

Torchwick's first instinct was flight. The man had done nothing and yet he could as well have slaughtered everyone present, so much did the thief feel the horrid, choking danger that emanated from him.

He turned to look at Neo. The girl had already stood up, sensing his distress and had gripped the handle of her umbrella tight. His eyes caught her bicolored ones, just to see that she was looking right past him.

Impossible. He had at least stood thirty meters from the stairs and they themselves must've at least four dozen steps, judging from structure and height. Not even that annoying red girl had been this fast and he had always found that exceptionally irritating about her.

The twins had backed away, further into the room again, passing Torchwick and regarding him with trustless looks of their own. Of course, whoever that was, was here for him. Well, he would not be Roman Torchwick if he went down without a fight.

With a practiced flick of his wrist, his cane was raised and pointed right back through under his own armpit. A shot without him actually turning around had surprised many dangerous individuals before and all that was now needed, was for him to pull the trigger.

The man was not surprised. Roman just felt a gloved backhand crack across his face and another take hold of his wepons muzzle and pulling it upward, hoisting him up awkwardly by his own weapon under his shoulder. While he was falling, Neo was about to reveal her own weapon, though the stranger had already let go of him and dashed towards her in a leap that was as effortless as a single step.

Her umbrella, still closed, snapped apart in a single swing of the man's closed hand. His other hand shot forward, grabbing Neo around her throat and pushing her around him, so that he was now again standing between Roman and the stairs. Torchwick looked at her.

Torchwick had never really understood her devotion towards him, what made her stay close to him and care for his safety. He did not pay her much, just enough to warrant a comfortable lifestyle, nor had he ever done anything that he would deem exceptional for her. For all he knew, he was just a liability and she, for whatever reason, tried her best to keep him alive. Right now, her eyes were filled with terror, as she stared at him, but the man's grip seemed not that tight because she could still utter a single word, something rare, as normally, she never spoke at all.

"Run."

He shortly contemplated following her advice, but then stood his ground. Whoever the man was, he hadn't killed them yet and there had to be a reason. He planted both feet firmly on the floor, took a deep breath and looked the man straight in the eye.

A wave of wonder washed over him, as Roman saw in these eyes stars, formations, energies and cosmic powers. Terrible might that was barely contained within this deceiving body of his, that seemed human, but was in fact something entirely different. He had seen something similar before, just once, with a woman who kept him in her employ for some time, stealing dust and artefacts from difficult targets.

"You..." He started, surprised at how firm his voice was in the face of this being.

"I know what you are." He finished and the man cocked his head to the side slightly. Curiosity played over his face. Roman looked at his loyal Neo.

"Leave her alone. She has nothing to do with you." He said and now, impossibly, the visible part of the face displayed something akin to surprise. The infinite vastness if his eyes still bored into Roman, but they seemed to have softened. Yet only slightly.

With the softest clap of soles of floor, he set Neo down and released his grip. The girl immediately sank to her knees, coughing and holding her neck. It seemed that the man's grip had been strong nevertheless. He regarded her with a last look, before striding forward in long steps and stopping before one of the leather chairs that surrounded Torchwick's table.

The man pointed at Militiades and Melanie, who had also looks of worry on them, but he made a clear gesture for them to leave. They tried to contain their eagerness to do so, exactly until they reached the stairs. Torchwick honestly anticipated them to jump the few meters down to the bottom lounge, but instead they just hurried down the stairs as fast as their high heels allowed.

Roman heard his cane clatter to the ground a few meters away. The man must have thrown it.

"I apologize." A deep voice rumbled through the room, from all sides at once.

"I would disclose my full name in order of an appropriate introduction of myself, but I am afraid that my true person and along with it my true name, have been lost in my previous ordeals. What is left, are titles. So you may address me with 'Hunter' or 'Johannes' if you so wish.

The Hunter drew one foot back, raised both of his hands to his right and bowed slightly.

"And you are Roman Torchwick, the specialist from the employ of one of our mutual acquaintants, the Black Queen."

Roman nodded, sweat forming on his forehead and under his armpits. His hands were moist. They stood there for a while, awkwardly until the Hunter pointed at the chairs.

"Shall we sit?"

Roman nodded.

He let himself fall into one of the chairs and watched as the Hunter descended into his. The man turned with his chair to Neo, who still sat on the floor, her skin pale and a silvery sheen on her thighs, reflecting the red lights. He stripped off a glove and offered a hand.

"My dear, please be assured that my intent was never to bring harm to you. Even though I must ask you both to refrain from hostilities during my visit, lest dire consequences may await you two. Still, it pains my heart, knowing that I have instilled fear, or worse, awakened memories of the past for you."

Hesitantly, she accepted his hand. His skin was fairly cold, yet not irritatingly. He raised her up and brought said hand to her neck to inspect if he had caused any damage. Satisfied, he brushed a lock of her pink hair from her face and led her to one of the chair, making sure she was seated well. When he sat again, he pulled the mask from his face, revealing a face of a young man, with a mouth filled with razorsharp blades, as they could see in the quick smile that made them both shiver.

"Now." He said, finally leaning back in his chair and pulling something from his pocket.

"I will move straight to the point. I have recently partaken in a minor skirmish on the shores of Vale. During this encounter, the settlement, of which the name shall remain undisclosed, has been almost completely destroyed. The total sum of all it's inhabitants have been corrupted by foul powers, which I and my humble companions have faced in direct combat."

He pulled a folded piece of paper from his coat and proceeded to unfold it slowly.

"We were forced to terminate the whole population of the settlement, as well as face the leading individual behind this atrocity, which was not of human or faunus nature."

He placed the paper on the table, carefully avoiding a small spill of a longdrink that had leaked onto the glass surface. His expression darkened somewhat.

"In the fight, a lot of the men and women in my employ have lost their lives and though this is and shall remain a burden I have to bear, there is still hope for a young woman. One that you have already faced before. One Ruby Rose."

Torchwick swallowed hard while alternating his gaze between the dark silhouette of the Hunter and the circle of runes and symbols that was displayed on the paper before him. He recognized them, as well as the feelings of unease and nausea that the cursed chalice had brought him as he had extracted it from the security hold of an old Mantle facility. The Hunter didn't need to voice his demand for Torchwick to know it.

"The chalice. I don't have it anymore." He said in a low voice. The Hunter's gaze snapped to him. If 'displeased' had a visual definition, this was it.

"I know that." The Hunter seethed. "Don't waste my time."

Torchwick followed up as quickly as possible. "I-I was asked to deliver it to a White Fang operating base in Bonfire Fields. That's south of-"

"I know where that is." The Hunter interjected, now more calmly again. "Who requested the extraction?"

"It was Leonardo... ah fuck, something. An academy professor."

"Lionheart? Of Haven academy?" He didn't seem to be surprised in the slightest in his questioning.

"Yes! He said it was to prevent the script on it to fall into the wrong hands. I didn't really listen to him back then. When they pay, they pay, you know?"

"I know." The Hunter said as he got up. Thinking back, he had noticed back then, that an academy professor like Lionheart, cooperating with the White Fang was a scandal on very high levels. Though he had explained this to himself as an act of camaraderie between faunus. How much damage could a simple chalice do in the end?

"Stay away from large woods and open waters for the time being. Your actions have deeper consequences than you could imagine." And with that, the Hunter moved down the stairs and vanished back into the crowd.

/

Maria skillfully steered the Nightowl over the treetops and through gaps in the forest, keeping the vessel as low as possible to avoid detection. Cinder stood next to her in the cockpit, holding on to a rubber strap in the ceiling. Her eyes were fixed forward, both of them silent. In the passenger compartment, Blake watched Yang check her gauntlets for the fifth time. She was angry and due to her semblance, she was unable to hide it. Her red irises shut everyone up, who came across her today. The day after the day that Johannes had told Blake that he had found Ruby. Weiss tried to calm her down with rationalism and to everyone's surprise, it worked. But she was occupied with this for the whole time, since the very impulsive Yang would soon fall back into her rage.

Emerald and Mercury sat next to the entrance to the cockpit eyeing Maria and Cinder through the hatch. To 'R'WBYs surprise, the three ex-terrorists had immediately jumped to help as soon as Blake told them of the news. They tried hard to earn forgiveness for what they had done.

At the back of the compartment sat Kercher with three of his men. Team 1-1. They were clad in their usual black armor, with facemasks hiding their identities. None of the four had spoken during the four hour flight, only now starting to move to check their weapons and equipment before they touched ground.

They startled Weiss as they suddenly got up from their seats. The white light of the overhead lamps went out and was replaced by the low glow of red ones. Through the front window, Haven academy appeared beyond the pines.

"Weapons." Kercher said over the radio.

"Check." Answered his men. He looked expectantly down the compartment. In hurry, Weiss looked over Myrtenaster and as the last one, confirmed combat readiness. Maria's voice rang through the intercom.

"Touchdown in five. Four. Three. Two. One."

The back of the Nightowl opened up and smoothly, rifles raised, Kercher and the other three hunters filed out and headed straight over the schoolyard to the frontgate. The rest followed, Yang stomping in anger, Cinder and her crew scanning their surroundings and Maria silently unsheathing her Rakyuo. Blake quickly recognized the smell of blood, faint in the air.

The main gate was completely destroyed, splinters of wood and metal dotting the area around the entrance. A single body was lying about ten meters off to the right. No one paid the bloody, crumpled remains any more heed than necessary.

1-1 and the rest would normally stack up next to the doors, but a single peek inside told them that even though caution was always warranted, they were very late to the main event.

"By the four." Emerald muttered under her breath. Weiss had turned a sickly shade of green.

The walls of the main hall were literally painted red with blood. Remains, ranging from 'cleanly executed' to 'completely obliterated' covered the floor and the twin stairs that led deeper into the building.

"Shit." Kercher cursed. The hardened veteran was no stranger to cruel sights like this, but even he had to admit that so much death made his stomach turn a bit.

"Leo, Dimi, find the security office. Be careful for stragglers."

Two of the hunters nodded. One of them produced a map of the building on his wristmounted display and they broke off in a different direction. The rest approached the stairs, towards the headmaster's office.

The second floor was arguably worse. Here, too, the large double doors had been completely shattered by an immense force. Bodies in white robes and peaked hoods were strewn about the hallways and rooms. At some point, one of the walls had collapsed entirely, revealing easily a dozen dead, shot to pieces by a large calibre automatic weapon.

"Your dear father has cleaned house." Cinder remarked dryly as they passed a trio of carcasses whose chest seemed to have exploded from the inside. Strings of gore dripped blood from the ceiling, several meters above.

"A hunter's work is not supposed to be clean." Maria replied, equally flat in tone.

The group reached the long, winding staircase that reached up to the upper most floor of the building. Two stairs curled around a silvery metallic elevator shaft, which they would have used, had it not been filled with at least seven more corpses, two of them bisected at the hip, their top halves lying outside the elevator and the rest riddled with bulletholes. Adding to that the noticeable tilt and the man sized dent in the back of the cabin itself, that suggested a substantial lack of structural integrity to the whole contraption, the group decided to use the stairs to get up to the headmaster's office instead.

The Hunter must have too.

There was just no end in sight for the piling dead that marked the Good Hunter's path through the building and his ascent to the upper floors. Sometimes it was clearly evident what had happened, supported by conventional signs of violent struggle. Bullet casings, empty magazines, holes in walls and specific patterns in blood splatter and appearances of wounds made it possible to reconstruct what had happened. Like a crime scene. That changed when it seemed that Johannes had ditched a weapon, or ran out of ammunition and had decided to use his very own bodily potential for the appliance of extreme force. Where at some points, it was possible to identify the cause of death and even Cinder would admit that such surgical precision was a rarity, at other points, it was as if a natural disaster had struck.

Finally, the group made it to the end of the stairs, which led to another large hall, that had, at some point before the attack, been furnished and used as a waiting room for the adjacent headmaster's office. On the sides of the relatively small oakwood door that led to Lionheart's workings space, one of these robed and armed persons lay on the floor dead and one stood, rifle in hand, but even as Kercher and behind him the others closed in, he did not move. Only when they were just a dozen steps away from them, they saw that the guard had been nailed to the wall with two halves of the stem of a lamp, one for each shoulder and crossing slightly downwards through the heart. Blood pooled at his feet, but had somehow avoided to stain most of his uniform.

Everyone was silent and listened.

From behind the door, a quiet sobbing was audible. Like a senile old man, gripped by night terrors, but Cinder recognized the voice.

"That's him." She stated. "Lionheart."

"You know him?" Weiss asked, still wrestling with her own composure a bit, but mostly managing by now.

"I knew him. We weren't sure if he was in on this back then." Cinder answered, before advancing towards the closed door. Kercher went with her, cautiously, like he had been trained to do and opened the door. Cinder stepped inside and the others followed her.

The room was untouched. Everything was in it's place, apparently. On the left and right, the walls were lined with shelves and bookcases, housing tomes, journals, historical and scientific texts, as well as complex apparatuses, technical gimmicks and surely more recently additions, ancient looking blades and artefacts and bones and bodyparts, suspended in milky liquid in large glass containers.

A few lounge chairs had been set up in one corner of the room, around a marble coffee table that hosted a ready set of cups and silverware, in case someone needed to be invited for a cup of coffee or tea, accompanied by biscuits or a piece of cake. One of the chairs from the circle was missing. It stood before the dark massive wooden desktop that marked the center of the room. Here, the headmaster was conducting his business from on a daily basis, or rather would have.

He would have, if he was not cowered into his chair like a scared child. Terrified, panicking, shocked and awed by the monster's rampant slaughter through his home. Professor Lionheart of Haven academy, had given in and even lost control of his bladder as it seemed.

If the Good Hunter took note of the stench, he made no appearance of showing it. He lounged in one of the padded recliners, a small contraption in his hand that threw light on the desk, floor and walls to the right. The thing displayed hundreds of small dots, which seemed like stars, with constellations, some popping in and out of existence and some swirling ever closer or further away from the center. Johannes' eyes followed an apparently random spot on the projection, like those of a cat, curious, maybe even fascinated.

Yang entered, her hair flaring and her hands balled to fists. Ember Celica cocked and ready to fire. She stared at the headmaster, who only sunk deeper into the leather.

"Daemons, you lot!" He yelled, several octaves higher than to be expected. "You tread on holy ground! Begone!"

The headmaster held up a small silver amulet, which was fastened with a long chain around his neck, vanishing under his full beard. The Hunter chuckled and placed the projector on the desk, as chips of dried blood fell from his coat.

"Their power shall protect my soul. Strike me d-down and you shall see the supreme goddesses fury." Lionheart continued his whimpering. The amulet in his hand was almost thrashing on it's chain from the shivers of his arm.

Johannes stood up and moved towards Yang, until he stood before her, dwarfing her with his exceptional height. He smiled, but it was a pained smile.

"Miss Xiao Long." He stated as sheshe looked up to him.

"I have caused you and your sister a terrible pain. I have done so before and my attempts of redemption have always been for naught. But today, I may have the strength to save someone and you have the opportunity to choose."

She stared back, unafraid, her eyes fiery like a furnace's core.

"Spare him, or enact revenge. I have found what I needed to get Miss Rose back."

He stepped aside. Yang stared at him further for a few moments, as no one dared to breathe and then nodded, passing him and walked towards Lionheart. Her footsteps sent tremors through the floor and not even the headmaster's fanatic yells could drown out the scream she let out as she hurled herself towards the defenseless man.

"The supreme goddess will-" He managed to squeeze out, before her fist collided with his jaw. Ember Celica roared and all twelve of her rounds were expelled at the same time, flinging the body of Lionheart out of his chair and against the wall behind him, breaking his aura. He crawled to a corner as Yang once again closed the distance in heavy steps.

"Your god killed my sister." She whispered as she stopped before him.

"And only the hope that we might bring her back, hinders me from killing you slowly. Because I am afraid of what she might think of me, when she gets back."

Lionheart stared at her, mouth agape.

"So you will spare me?" He asked. There was a sliver of hope in his quivering voice.

Yang stood still, looming over the pathetic caricature of a man. Her eyes were on fire, her mane was of flames.

"No." She said and swung her other fist.

For the day, the last shot rang out at Haven academy.


	11. Wiederkehrer

**Wow. Only around 6000 words is all you people get for many months of wait. I am seriously sorry, but I had so much work and while there might have been free time, I really had to use this very effectively. For example to be disappointed in Ghost Recon Breakpoint, or to get blown off by every girl I meet. Well, shit hapens. I wouldn't be truly German if I was balanced and happy all the time. So yeh, have a good read.** **Please tell me all your criticism. Make a comment.**

 **Wiederkehrer**

 _As it was revealed, the nameless chalice is a pathway to many a plane, as long as an adequate offering is brought and the spirit of the user is able to withstand the terrible violence that nature wreaks._

 _The pathway to the stars._

Cinder watched as Johannes worked. Kercher and his team had been so forthcoming as to remove the corpse of Lionheart as respectfully as possible and began cleaning out a few of the others, so that their way out, hopefully with the young miss Rose, would be less horrifying.

She saw the concentration on his face, as he carefully arranged the chalice, the tip of Ruby's little finger and a plethora of other ingredients. With a red stick of wax, he drew a complicated circle around the chalice, taking care to retain the spaces between the lines and the exact angles of the shapes. It took the better part of an hour and it seemed as if the Hunter had bottomless pockets, as he produced more and more little pieces to his intricate creation, that grew more and more to look like an elaborate shrine. Candles rimmed the edges of the circle, casting their warm light across the office.

The Hunter kneeled with his back to Cinder, motionless for a long time, except for his lips that mouthed silent incantations and prayer. A black marble statue of an inhuman soldier, leaning on the silver longsword that had once been the weapon of the knights of the healing church. Johannes had shown them the sheath that the weapon had been part of, but he had respectfully stored it away now and replaced it with a beautiful scabbard of black leather, that was securely fastened to his hip.

He finished his silent chant and placed a pale rose at the foot of the chalice, before touching each part of the shrine with his index, or middle finger. Then, he stood and took up the blade, one hand securely on the grip and one wrapped around the blade.

Cinder cringed slightly as she faintly heard the metal break the skin as the Hunter pulled the sword across his palm. Blood spilled from his fist as his hand reached the sword's tip and fell in thick drips towards the floor, but never reached the wax circle below. Every drop was flung away, splashing against the walls and Cinder had to raise her hands to keep it out of her eyes and mouth.

The Hunter chuckled. His shadow danced across the office, throwing silhouettes against the walls that were his, but so terribly different at times. Antlers, teeth, claws and tentacles.

"So it's so." He muttered under his breath, his cheeks rising below his eyes from amusement.

"Miss Fall." He addressed her and she answered yes.

"What you're about to see is surely going to make you doubt my judgement. Yet it is necessary as well as it is, relatively harmless to me. Please do not interfere."

The way his head was turned in the yellow twilight from the candles, he looked a lot like an evil forest spirit from the legends, not like a wellspoken gentleman. Though she quickly reminded herself that she knew nothing about what he actually was.

"I won't." She nodded and he reciprocated the gesture, turning back to his ritual shrine.

"We jolly partisans." He chuckled lowly

In a single elegant movement, he sheathed his sword with his right and drew a short black dagger from a sheath on his belt. Before Cinder had time to process his actions, he had plunged the dagger's blade into his own chest, drawing and twisting it about where his heart should be. It did not disappoint. In one large spill, half a bucket's worth of blood flowed on the ground, splashing in all directions. The Hunter fell to one knee, a stream of light red liquid still pouring out of him.

"Johannes." Cinder said softly, unsure if this was according to his plans.

And then he was gone. Dissolved in that still unfamiliar mist of blue and silver.

"Johannes?"

/

Ruby coughed blood and dust as she grabbed her arm to reset the shoulder joint. She yelled as she violently pulled and felt the bone pop back into the socket. The pain was sharp and shot through her whole side and she heaved and fell to her knees.

The monster was sitting on the ground across the courtyard, eyeing her with curiosity. Ruby wondered if it remembered everything from the last few dozen run ins they had, like she did. Maybe it was thinking the same thing, maybe it wasn't thinking at all. Maybe it already knew that this was going nowhere and had already decided her fate. Cursed to relive this one battle, over and over again, until she'd lost her mind.

The bird had not returned yet and her hopes that something had changed grew ever slimmer. Maybe she had just imagined it, or it had been a coincidence. This nightmare did not seem to end.

She propped herself up on crescent rose, using the scythe's shaft as a crutch, until she was upright again. Her clothes were ripped and her skin was bruised and cracked open in several spots. Blood seeped faintly through her hands as she held them against the red moonlight. Just enough, just in time to see... something.

A black shadow circled above her, a single reflective eye pointed at her, like the lense of a drone. There it was, the raven and in it's claws it carried something. Silvery and small. Then it opened it's claws and Ruby heard something drop into the mud to her right.

The monster shifted, it's gaze alternating between Ruby and the Raven in the sky. It seemed apprehensive, almost cautious as it eyed the bird. She did not understand why, yet she did not care.

She stumbled over where the little silver object had impacted the ground and dug her hand into the dirt. She pulled and opened her palm, to find a little silver bell, just as big as the tip of her thumb, but engraved all over in beautiful designs of strange flora and intersected in regular intervals by the morbid image of a dagger piercing through the top of an empty skull.

She took the tiny bell by the ring at the top and held it further to the light. She jumped as she heard the stomping and growling of the creature on the other side of the field. It too had seen the little thing and it was agitated. Hateful eyes glared at the tiny silver and as it cantered and swung it's many arms, it let out a terrible shriek that sent tremors through the soil.

Ruby met it's gaze as she rang the bell. A fine, nimble tone that pierced the bloody night and echoed long and pleasant.

Ruby was swept off her feet. Pain arched through her whole body like fire as she flew through the air. She did not feel the impact as she crashed against the rim of a fortified trench, breaking a portion off the concrete. She did not hear the rocking bellow that exploded from the monster as it once more bent it's hind legs and pounced.

Time slowed down to a crawl. Painfully aware of the damned thing's woeful appearance, of it's glistening claws, of it's gaping maw, Ruby watched it sail through the air, towards her, ready to slice her apart. It inched closer and closer, unstoppable, ready to deliver to her another death. Another restart. Another layer to this inescapable hell.

Something cracked, like a shot from an artillery piece. From her right to her left, something flew past her, colliding halfway with the abomination and kept going, tearing a scar into the earth as it touched ground. The beast was carried with it for a few meters, then caught itself and jumped back to avoid another blow. Ruby turned her head, still dazed from the impact and blinked her eyes, unbelieving of what she saw.

The bird gently landed on her thigh.

"Miss Rose."

/

 _"1-1, this is Apollyon. We have thermal of about thirty individuals closing in on the academy from the south entrance, do you copy?"_

 _"Apollyon, this is 1-1, we copy. Are they armed?"_

 _"1-1, we can't see that from up here, but they seem to be moving in formation. We-_

 _Update, 1-1, apparently there is some kind of vehicle joining them now. Seems like a technical, or something similarly jury rigged."_

 _"ETA, Apollyon?"_

 _"About six minutes until they reach the perimeter. 1-1, Hansen has just identified a heavy weapon on that technical. We have to assume that these individuals are hostile, as of now."_

 _"Copy that, Apollyon. Await instructions.1-1 o_ _ut."_

/

"Everybody wake up, we have hostiles incoming!" Kercher yelled as he hurried through the chaotic remains of the academy.

Maria was on her feet within the fracture of a second, already on her way to the front gate, only shortly stopped by the squadleader.

"Miss, would you assist Leo and Dimi in setting up the heavy gun at the south entrance?"

"Of course." She nodded. Maria was aware that she would easily be able to beat anyone out of Johannes' hunters in a comparison of combat prowess, yet she knew that the Good Hunter's squad leaders weren't chosen for show. Kercher in particular was selected for his uncanny ability to rationalize any combat situation and find the most effective and ruthless method of resolving it. If he thought it necessary to place the unwieldy machinegun at that entrance, he would most likely be right.

"Mister Black, Miss Xiao Long, you will form our front line with Miss Maria. Miss Belladonna and Miss Sustrai, find positions out of enemy sight and flank as soon as possible."

All four nodded and hurried away, even though Yang had to be beckoned by Blake as she was more than just reluctant to remove herself more from the office in which Johannes was supposedly bringing her sister back.

"Lietz!" Kercher yelled and his third hunter came running down the stairs, shouldering a giant polymer case.

"Yessir!"

"You and Miss Schnee, up to the third floor terrace. Bring your piece up there."

Lietz nodded and turned to go, but Weiss was not convinced.

"Wait. You're splitting up my team!" She put her hands on her hips.

"We won't be as effective if were apart."

Kercher hesitated for a second, before he spoke. The black balaclava hid almost all of his emotions, but it was evident that he wasn't pleased.

"Miss Schnee. If the situation calls for it, I have no doubt you'll be with your friends within a second. I do not doubt your ability to fight, yet I have killed rogue huntsmen who were ten years your senior. Please trust my judgement when I am trying to make this not a fight, but an ambush."

He then turned to Lietz.

"Please explain to the young Miss how we deal with this kind of situation, while you set up. Now, chop chop. We have three minutes left."

With that, the squadleader turned away and hurried towards the headmaster's office. Weiss growled in annoyance as she tore her glare away from his back and turned to follow Lietz, who was waiting for her on the stairs.

"No hard feelings." He said as they reached the third floor.

"He's hunted insurgents all over Mistral while he was in specops. Some of them were from the academies. Old guard."

She huffed and crossed her arms. "He's interfering with our dynamic." She countered.

"He's disrupting patterns and multiplying our forces."

Lietz answered. Weiss' eyes widened slightly as he kicked open the case and hefted the largest rifle that she had ever seen. Ruby's crescent rose packed quite a punch, even though it fired standard 7.62 ammunition. The bullets that Lietz slid into the rifle's magazine had to be at least of fifty calibre.

"He means no disrespect, but he knows how to set up a dynamic defense."

He unlocked the bipod and set the magazine in place, racking the bolt and loading a round.

"He's not dividing the teams. The team is just different here."

Weiss relented. The explanation was sound somewhat. She went prone at his side.

"So what do we do, up here?"

"When shit hits the fan, you do your thing. Until then..." He handed her a pair of binoculars.

"You point out targets and I kill them."

/

"Johannes?" Ruby groaned between pained breaths as she stared at the small crater that the man had made as he had crashed onto the battlefield. She was still lying on her back, her back felt strange, as if her spine had been damaged. He turned and walked towards her. The beast shrunk back into the shadows of a collapsed church, hiding behind the arch of the ruined main gate.

"Miss Rose." He said and kneeled beside her. His hand found her's and she smiled. Tears formed in her eyes, seeping from the silver of her irises.

"Your lumbar vertebrae is broken." He stated, matter of factly. "You will not be able to fight like this."

She was openly crying now, confused as her tears were both, of happiness and of desperation. She was not alone anymore, yet she would need to die again. Could she do that, once again?

"We'll have to make another attempt." He said, smiling at her. Not the smile of a predator this time, but it was the kind of smile that her father would sometimes give her, when she had hurt herself, or failed at something on the first try. Or the second, or the third.

He took a piece of parchment from his pocket. It looked old and grimy and Ruby was sure that she wouldn't want it anywhere near her. Still, she recognized the sign on it. The dangling upside down rune that was the Hunter's symbol.

"Focus, and burn it into your mind." He said calmly and held the paper above her so she could see it. She felt light all of a sudden, like she was drifting off to sleep, yet her mind remained clear. She felt the ground gently rocking beneath her and heard the familiar chime of the tiny bell and then-

She stood upright. The moon was still up and the sky was still red. There was no sign of her older self and no sign of the hunters, or the cultists. Everything was silent, calm, except for the same pressure that had forced itself down on her as she had fought the thing. The abomination. That child of a god.

"I trust you're feeling better now." She heard Johannes from beside her. The large crow was comfortably nestling in the crook of his left arm. His right arm held a great weapon. A scythe with a black blade and a sturdy looking, crooked handle.

She nodded, but her shoulders sagged as soon as she realised that her endeavour was not over yet. But they were together now. Surely Johannes could easily overpower this monster, right?

"You will have to face the beast alone." He said as if he read her mind.

"What?" She wailed. Shock was evident on her tired face. She did not want to fight the beast again, not alone and not with Johannes help, but at least with him here, she did not feel as terrified.

"You can't just leave me here again! What am I supposed to do against that... thing!?" Ruby had some difficulty to not throw an insult at the Hunter, but she held back. Something in her was still scared of him.

He held out his right arm with the scythe in his hand.

"You will use this." He let go, but instead of falling down, the scythe stayed in the air, suspended on nothing, floating serenely.

Ruby plucked it from the air. The shaft of the scythe felt cool to the touch and rough underneath her delicate fingers. It was lighter than expected and the blade was well balanced with the handle.

"And I will not leave you. I will be here. But I cannot partake in this fight of yours."

He made a broad gesture at their surroundings.

"This, something very similar, I had to endure myself. The first greater beast I slew, one of a cleric, I had to kill it alone and it brought me true insight of the dream. This true insight is the key to progress the nightmare and become free."

She listened, unsure if she understood. Probably not, since she didn't even knew what insight he was talking about.

"But you are here. What insight do you mean?" She asked, rubbing her fingers across the surface of the scythe's blade.

He smiled again. "I can be here, because your mind is already sufficiently convinced of my existence. Unconsciously, you might still doubt the reality of this place. You might think this as a dream. That has to change."

"So this is supposed to be reality?" She was shrinking with every passing moment. The possible implications still too much for her to fully grasp.

"Reality is confuse, layered and without mercy." He said. They had begun walking again and Ruby soon recognized the trenches and the church. Bodies scattered about, still and unmoving where they had fallen in their struggle. A thick silence had descended on the world and held everything in it's iron grip.

"Everything is subject to circumstance. Nothing is random. We are slaves to the events of the past."

She held her breath as they stepped into the space where she knew the beast was lurking. Waiting for her, for it to descend once again from the sky.

"Your choices are already predicted, young Miss. But your situation is unique. People like you, like Miss Decker and also me, we are the embodiment of inevitability."

She felt it's presence. It's horrid aura spreading into jer limbs and as she looked up into the air, she saw it again, floating closer and closer. She gripped the scythe as if she wanted to break it.

"Show it. Show it that you are the predator and it is prey."

/

Weiss only heard the mechanic noises of Lietz switching his magazine and pulling back the charging handle. All other noises seemed to drown in the cacophony of gunfire below and the reverberating echoes of Lietz's heavy gun. 1-1's output of fire was enormous. Several assault rifles rattled through their magazines, riddling vehicles, cover and personnel with holes, an LMG was spitting stream after stream of deadly lead through the air, painting the night with tracers and the man beside Weiss had just finished reloading his sniper rifle. Few between, but still audible were the thick booms of Yang's gauntlets and the sharp, quick report of Blake's pistol.

"Another vehicle, eleven o'clock." She said, robotic, calm, though her heart was hammering against her chest.

"Can't see. What is it?" Lietz answered, similarly mechanical, still peering through his rifle's scope.

Weiss clicked her binos from NV to thermal. The thing was large, but she vaguely remembered the shape. It resembled the bipedal walkers employed by the Atlesian military and since the heist, also the white fang, only that this one stood not on legs but on massive tracks. Massive arm-mounted weapons swung towards them.

"Mech incoming!" She yelled and Lietz immediately swung his scope at the thing.

"Shitballs!" He opened his comm. "Leader! Heavy armored drone incoming! Eleven o'clock! Two fifty!"

He waited for the answer and nodded, standing up and pulling his rifle with him.

"Copy! Schnee, inside!" He yelled and made off towards the door. Weiss saw the rest of 1-1 and her team retreat similarly on the ground, just early enough to avoid the dust grenade that came flying from the battle machine. Fire erupted in the courtyard, the incendiary round torching all equipment left outside and flames licking at the side of the walls.

"I'll hold here! Kercher wants you downstairs with your team!" Lietz bellowed as he set up his heavy rifle. He didn't wait for Weiss' response before the deafening booms from his gun filled her ears again.

Below, the cacophony of gunfire was even harsher. Fire raged about the frame of the main gate and just as Weiss reached the bottom of the stairs, a deafening boom ripped through the building, blowing out the last few shards of window glass that still clung to it's place. She glanced to her right and saw Maria running down the hall. One of her hands held one of Kercher's hunters over her shoulder, while the over carried a massive, automatic gun by it's handle. Even with her aura, Weiss was sure that she wouldn't be able to even lift the piece of weaponry. Mercury and Yang followed closely behind.

"Belladonna! Sustrai! Fall back! Go over the roof and meet us in the central courtyard!" Kercher literally screamed into the mouthpiece of his headset. A sharp dent in his helmet and holes in the fabric of his vest betrayed that he had been hit several times. Blood ran down his left arm, but he didn't show any pain.

"Leo is hit." Maria stated matter of factly as she rushed past him, Yang and Merc on her heels.

"Miss Schnee!" He yelled, bloodshot eyes fixating on her. She understood and nodded, before planting her feet in the middle of the corridor, her blade forward.

"As soon as you see them, make them go away." Kercher growled as he stood beside her, his assault rifle ready. She nodded again, surprised at her own unwavering stance. Battle was raging outside. She had helped Lietz kill people and she would now too. Humans, faunus, who cares? May the founders forgive her.

As she thought that, the sniper came running down the stairs. He was covered in soot and his hair was still alight with small tinders. The right side of his face was covered in blisters and was distorted in a pained grimace.

"Dimi is still outside!" He yelled, before taking off towards the front door, assault rifle in hand.

"Lietz!" Kercher yelled and sprinted after him, leaving the Schnee behind, unsure what to do. But he stopped before the exit, taking cover and looking back at her. She followed.

Outside, there was carnage. Several spots in the ground had been blasted free of cobblestone and the makeshift barricades were on fire. All over the plaza, bodies were strewn about and tracers zipped through the darkness, back and forth. In the middle of it all, crouched behind sandbags and the remains of the ruined fountain, Lietz and Dimi returned fire on the seemingly endless masses of attackers. The armored mech was still rumbling towards them.

"Lietz! Dimi! MFV inbound! Retreat now!"

Just now, Weiss remembered that she had an earpiece herself. It had been silent, because she had muted it upstairs to better understand Lietz. She switched it back on.

"-lladonna are trapped on the other side of the plaza!" Dimi's voice. A sound of a ricochet. "Ah! Fuck!" The overmodulated sound of automatic gunfire. "Fuck off!"

"Retreat!" Kercher yelled, before sending a burst of bullets out himself. Weiss saw a man double over and crash to the ground, some fifty meters away.

Dimi hesitated, or he was busy. It took him a while to answer.

"I see the mech." His voice was subdued. "It has a missile module on the left shoulder. It's going to tear through the buildings."

Weiss turned to Kercher. "We need to take it down."

"What the lady says." Lietz' strained voice chimed in.

"Fuck! Fuck!" Kercher fired two more bursts. Two more dead. "Why the fuck can't I hear Belladonna and Sustrai?!"

"I can get to them!" Weiss quickly notified. Kercher stared at her, not even twitching as a round tore through the doorframe, which he leaned against and showered him in splinters. She stared back, her eyes narrowed.

"I am a Schnee. Blake is my friend." She said, gripping her rapier tighter in her hand.

Kercher stared at her. Then he spoke.

"Lietz, Dimi! Schnee will give you cover. Get the fuck back here and suppress the plaza!" He turned back to the corridor. "Xiao Long! Miss Maria! There's a heavy mech coming in."

"Yes?" Yang asked over the radio. Another explosion rocked the plaza before Kercher spoke again. Voice cold and controlled, his face hidden behind his mask.

"Kill it."

/

Ruby was alive. She was faster. She was stronger. She was the hunter.

She ducked beneath the swing of the monster's mighty claws and dashed forward. Not backwards, not sideways. She wasn't avoiding it, she was confronting it. The scythe sailed through the putrid air and connected, sending a shower of blood over her. But where it would have disgusted her before, now...

...now it was invigorating.

It howled in pain and she felt pleased. A strange, pure warmth that filled her up and gave her strength. When she stopped to assert her foe, her stance was powerful and her vision was sharp. She saw the thing. That thing that had made her endure this hell countless times, was backing off. It searched for a window to take a breather, but she wouldn't give it. No mercy. No respite.

With a crack of air, her small body flung forward, kicking up dust as she flew towards the beast. She dashed around another swipe of a claw and pulled her blade backward, before pushing her left hand in and leveraging the scythe around her waist. It sang as it arched through the flesh, severing tendons, slicing muscle and shattering bone.

The strike pushed her upwards, outside of the field of vision of the beast. It thrashed as she landed on it's back, scythe high above her head. It saw the blade coming, just as it tore into it's skull.

She had done it. But she did not expect the pain that suddenly took hold of her, replaced the warmth and sent convulsions through her body. It was beyond anything she had ever felt, though she knew it would pass. She just needed to indure it. Simply let it pass. Only endure it.

She couldn't.

With a scream that pierced the silence, she fell from the giant corpse and landed in the mud that had formed from dirt and blood. The scythe forgotten, she rolled and coiled, writhed and convulsed, howling in agony. Her feet felt like nails were pushing through them, so she kicked her boots away. Her scarf was choking her, so she threw it off. Her legs and arms and chest felt as if they were on fire, so she ripped apart her clothes, flinging it away from her, where they couldn't harm her. But it didn't stop. It became worse. She screamed and her throat felt like barbed wire. It was so hot, scorching, tearing, suffocating and hateful.

She was sweating and she was throwing up. She tore her hair out and clenched her teeth so hard they should break. She scratched herself, anything to make her feel anything else than the pain in her chest. And everywhere else.

Something touched her. A coolness, just on her chest. She felt for it with her hand and she found another one, just between her breasts. A larger hand, but still delicate, still quite small for the arm it belonged to. She felt so heavy, and she sank. Gently, staring at the sky. But the red and the white was leaving and a soothing, calming grey came into view. A second hand supported her head, from the neck up, so she would not be constricted, while the other hand wandered down, gently stroking her skin, until it rested on her abdomen and remained there. The heat vanished, the pain, the choking and for a fleeting moment, left nothing but a serenity that she had never felt before. Complete clarity.

Suddenly, it was Johannes, above her. Well, above and below, since she was lying on his lap, with his hand on her belly. He was... smiling, looking at something far away. His hat was gone, his mask was off and he had shrugged off his coat. It was hanging off his shoulder.

Suddenly, she felt cold. Her body was drenched in sweat, as if she had just stepped from a shower.

Suddenly, she was painfully aware, that she had been very successful in destroying her outfit completely. She was as naked as tge day she was born, and glistening in the sunlight. Had Johannes been looking at her, she might have slapped him. Hard.

But he was looking off, into said sunset. Smiling and humming a melody she had never heard but was sure it was familiar. It was deep and it's vibrations resonated through her body. Somehow, she was sure that she had never seen him distracted before, but something in his gaze suggested that he was truly, genuinely captivated by what he saw.

Nevertheless, she was still nude in his arms.

"Don't look." She hadn't intended for it to sound like a whisper, but she almost felt her throat burn up again.

"I would never dare." He said, still not looking away from his point of interest. Instead, he shrugged the coat off of his shoulder and with the hand that had been laying on her abdomen, handed it towards her. Quickly, she draped it over herself, standing up. She almost fell over, as the burning returned for a second, but he caught her. As soon as the coat was closed, which was challenging, considering the size of the article, she looked up. To meet his steely eyes.

"You had me worried for a moment." He was almost grinning, she was sure. It was cute in a way, since even emotions seemed to lie under a strict set of controlled rules with him.

"So, the pain... that was not normal?"

"No." He answered. "I certainly felt quite a bit of discomfort when the blood echoes came to me the first time, but they came from smaller, less powerful organisms. Much smaller."

"Blood echoes?"

He simply continued. "To slay such a creature first, it could have broken many. Most. Almost anyone else."

Her cheeks flushed and she looked at the ground.

"When I was initiated, my first prey was a lycanthrope. A man disfigured by the plague so much, that he seemed more wolf than human. I would encounter many of them, but to slaughter an elder beast..."

He took a moment, looked away, at the corpse, then back at her. And she saw pride in his eyes. He was proud of her.

"That might have broken me... But not you."

Ruby smiled. He smiled.

"Does that mean, I am better than you?"

And he laughed. Fatherly and welcoming.

"In terms of fighting strength? No. In terms of character? Oh my dear Ruby Rose. Certainly yes."

He looked up again and this time, she followed his gaze. In the distance, over the ruins, over the pillars of smoke, the sun was rising. Morning was coming. Her night of the hunt, it would end.

"Certainly yes."

/

Yang was panting. Her breathing was heavy and her arms were tired. Her legs were tired. Everything was tired. She opened her hands, which had been on a deathgrip around the two recoilless rifles she had held and they clattered along the side of the hull, to the ground. The smoking pile of wreckage she stood upon, was pockmarked with bulletholes and dents. Some of Maria's bullets had penetrated, some had ricocheted away, into the ground or the sky. Yang had given the thing the rest. Apart from the sound of fire, it was quiet. She looked around.

There were Emerald and Blake, both safe and sound, apart from a few scratches. Here was Weiss, lying on her back and almost passed out from exhaustion. It had taken a lot of aura from her to hold the heavy mech in place, shield herself and the others from it's .50 chainguns and finally, launch Yang high enough to get a good shot at it's hatch.

Maria was kneeling next to Lietz. The sniper had made a mad dash before, to retrieve a case of ammunition for Yang to use, but he hadn't quite made it back in one piece. A burst from the miniguns had strafed his leg and torn it off from the knee down. Maria had stopped the bleeding, but it was clear that without heavy augmentation, he was never going into a fight again.

Dimi was dead. He had stayed, to give Blake and Emerald a fighting chance, but a stray bullet had found it's way into his eye. He had been dead immediately. Kercher was sitting next to him, on the rim of the fountain. He hadn't said anything, nor had he looked at any one else. He just looked at Dimi, with an expression that betrayed no emotion, no feeling, nothing at all. The perfect mask.

Leo was also there. He would be okay, but he and Dimi had been friends.

Yang had been afraid of this. Not even counting the bodies of their adversaries, one of them had died today. He had died, to safe her friends. He had died, so they could safe Ruby. She had expected someone to glare at her, or accuse her. Something. But now, the fight had been over for almost ten minutes. Ten minutes of her, standing on the burnt out tank and looking around and she had been scared when Leo came to her.

But he had simply looked at her and smiled. A sad smile, but one that said "He went out on his own way. He is proud and so am I." She was pretty sure that was what it meant.

"Yang!" Cinder's voice was hurried, out of breath. "Yang!"

"Yes!" She turned around and jumped off the wreck. She passed the fountain and Kercher, who nodded. She passed Lietz and Maria. Lietz was completely sedated, but Maria smiled her warm smile. The girlish one that did not belong here.

Blake hurried to her, Weiss pried herself from the cobblestones.

"Yang!"

"Yes! I am com-"

Her eyes fell on Johannes and on the girl next to him, the one that wore a coat that bunched at her feet like a wedding dress. Who had had to roll up the sleeves and who half vanished behind the collar. Lilacs eyes met silver eyes as she fell into a sprint and then...

She had her sister back.


	12. Gesprochenes Wort

**I know it takes some time and the chapters might lack structure. its not a thought out story I suppose, but rather a collection of impressions in really choppy chronology.** **But nevertheless, I hope you like it. Leave a comment if you did. Or didn't. Both.**

 **Here we go.**

 ** _Gesprochenes Wort_**

 ** _Spoken Word_**

General James Ironwood was a man of war. He was a man of composure. He was a leader and a role model. Yet, he couldn't help the familiar anxiety in the presence of that one man, the Hunter.

He did not feel ashamed for that. He, as well as his friends Ozpin and Glynda, knew that feeling uneasiness or even strange dread in his vicinity was to be considered normal. It was the standard. After that night in the forest, many years ago, he had met Johannes and Maria only a handful of times, but every time, the Hunter seemed to tower over everyone else like a giant.

Maria's company was much more easy to enjoy. She too inhibited a strange, unknowable quality, but her demeanour was much more human, infinitely more approachable. That she could keep up such a cheery attitude, even though she was always close to the Hunter, it was a mystery. It made her one to be admired, not that the general would admit that.

Though now, even she was reserved. It was only appropriate in the context of what they were doing.

The roof of the 'Hotel", the building acquired by Johannes as his base of uoperations, was filled with people. Men and women, human and faunus, some huntresses and Ironwood and his men, stood around a large stack of wood, covered in crimson sheets and on top of it, lay a dead man. He was dressed in full battle kit. Fatigues, armor, helmet, gloves and boots. Only his face was free. His eyes were closed and the slack muscles in his face made it so that it almost seemed as if he was smiling.

A woman, dressed similarly, stepped out of the crowd, a canister in her hand. Ironwood immediately recognized Specialist Mary Decker. The woman the Hunter had taken from his airship, during their investigation of the Atlesian super submarine. She stood for a moment, regarding the pyre and then turned around.

"Dimitri Lio Stravinsky…" She left the name to linger for a moment.

"Dimitri Stravinsky was a man of great courage, as all hunters are courageous."

Brrrttt!

A rapping went through the lines, as all the black clad men and women answered Decker with a stomp of their feet.

"He was a man of skill, as all hunters are skilled."

Brrttt!

"He was a man of duty, as all hunters are dutiful."

Brrt!

"He died as a hunter. Fighting for the lives of those next to him. With tooth and nail, without mercy or respite…"

Decker raised the canister and pulled a pin from it's top. Just now Ironwood realised that it was an incendiary grenade of some kind.

"As a hunter should!" She exclaimed loudly and all present answered with a choir of "A-OOH!"

Almost carelessly, she tossed the explosives into the pyre, where it ignited with a weak poof and immediately engulfed the stack of wood in yellow flames. Moments after, the power was alight and the fire licked on Dimitri's boots and clothes. It would take some time for the pyre to burn out and to perform the rest of the rites to the corpse, but Ironwood didn't have all day and he knew that the Hunter knew that.

Johannes emerged from the crowd, throwing the General a single glance and pointing his hand downwards, towards the staircase. Ironwood nodded and made to follow him, two of his personal guard in tow. The rest would stay to pay their respect.

They moved several flights down, moving between rooms and floors as they did so. The building was uncannily complicated and Ironwood didn't know how anyone could be familiar with it's layout, except they lived here for years. To his surprise, he saw many more men and women in uniform throughout the Hotel. He hadn't counted, but he would guess that the roof had at least carried two hundred soldiers and they passed far beyond twenty while moving through the building.

Now, Ironwood trusted Ozpin and Ozpin trusted the Hunter, but what he had seen here, was beyond suspicious. Not only the soldiers and the obvious militarism within the compound, but also the quality and quantity of their hardware. Once they passed a room into which he could catch a glimpse, which seemed to be an armoury, complete with a quartermaster and a list of attendees. The sheer volume of firearms, ranging from handguns over assault rifles, up to anti materiel systems was impressive, even to someone like the General.

"Is it okay for you to leave the ceremony early?" He asked, while he pondered his observations. Johannes did not stop as he answered.

"I am not of the sentiment that rituals like the one above us, are too much of the essence."

The General raised an eyebrow at that.

"Then why bother? Why not just bury them where they fall?"

The Hunter snapped his fingers. "Decker explained to me that it would be beneficial for the morale of the troop. She is much better versed in the complexities of the human mind than me. But I still think… I know, that the body is just a vessel for the consciousness. And as soon as the electrical stimuli in the brain cease to function, this vessel becomes an empty shell. Worthless beyond sentimental value."

Ironwood was not surprised at the harsh statement. He had expected for the man's point of view to differ from the standard. It was a fitting amalgamation of spirituality, scientific awareness and cold effectiveness that seemed to dictate the man's being.

"And the mind? The soul? What happens to it in your opinion?"

Now, the Hunter stopped. Just for a single step, but still.

"I do not know." He answered, an amused tone in his voice. "I have learned many things that man is not supposed to know, yet this mystery seems unsolvable."

He opened a door and both stepped into a spacious office. The walls were lined with shelves that seemed to burst with strange contraptions and tomes. Jars and vials and small, insignificant looking trinkets. An origami fox there, a handful of marbles here. He looked Ironwood in the eye as he was about to close the door.

"True nothingness is not meant to be comprehended. It is a burial ground for coherent thought. Even the concept is impossible. There can not be absolute nothing if anything exists."

He closed the door.

"It is also not something that should be discussed while being sober." The Hunter strode past the General and rounded a rather plain, wooden desk which only carried a lamp, a few writing utensils and a small pillow, on which a large black crow was resting, it's beak tucked against it's body and it's eyes closed. Apparently it did either not mind the intrusion, or didn't notice it.

"You can get drunk?" Ironwood asked with a smile as he sat in the chair the Hunter gestured him to take, before sitting himself.

"Not with alcohol, which makes avoiding intoxication rather easy." He answered, before folding his gloved hands.

"But you are a busy man, General. Though I would be pleased to comply, you did not come here to discuss paradoxes and metaphysical improbabilities."

"Right." The General shifted in his seat. "I have chosen to personally oversee the delivery of your order to the Atlesian government. Especially so, since I heard that your operatives are already very well equipped and not least as I have myself spent the better part of the last year to make the council greenlight my own inquiries. But somehow yours is approved within two days."

"Yes, I am aware." Johannes answered, a little smile playing over his face.

"I assure you, that I have no idea why they reacted this quickly. I had anticipated waiting for a fair bit."

"Hah!" Ironwood laughed, making the Hunter raise a brow in puzzlement himself.

"It is because they're afraid." He said chuckling.

"Because you made such an impressive entrance, with your specimen in tow. Somehow these gentlemen are content with Grimm running rampant in our rural areas, but show 'em a squidman and they all lose their composure."

Both looked at each other for a moment, before on each face a grin emerged and finally laughter filled the short silence.

"I guess that also helped your own requisition quite a bit." The Hunter said after they'd shared this small moment.

"In fact, they approved it within the same sitting." Ironwood was still laughing.

"And you would think they'd jump at the idea of upgrading the troops equipment. I remember a time when most if the yearly budget went into the military industrial complex. 'No cost to high' was their slogan when it came to defence against the black tide."

"Complacency is a boon in the enemies hand." Johannes said as the General was calm again. There was some frustration in Ironwood's tone and he had recognized it. Of course he had.

"Do you want to see the list?"

"Please."

The General reached into his coat and produced an envelope, bearing the council's sigil. The Hunter took it and swiftly sliced it open.

"Two hundred units. AICA. Advanced infantry combat armour. One size fits all. The full package. Artificial muscle, integrated, strength enhancing, exoskeletal platform, tank grade tactical armour and helmet. The exo carries itself and then some. Heavier armour and heavier guns. It effectively cancels out all recoil from conventional infantry weapons, if the wearer is proficient enough that is."

Johannes nodded.

"The helmet-" Ironwood continued. "-has a visor with full HUD, AI-supported dynamic threat assessment, state of the art communication system which can be encrypted and all the other fancy stuff. Rangefinders, terrain scanner, thermal and night vision, up to twenty hours of power on maximum performance. It's a powerhouse. A real force multiplier."

The hunter kept nodding, while looking down at the list. He kept reading for a while until he put the paper down on his desk and took a ballpen from a case on the desk.

"I have no idea what any of this means." He finally said. "But I understood 'heavier armour and heavier guns.' So I guess this is alright. I will give this to accounting. The payment should be complete within the day."

"You have no idea what this means?" The General asked incredulously. "How… why then did you-"

"Miss Decker took care of the specifics of the order. She told me that it would maximize our men's lethality and minimize danger for them. I also thought about ordering another two or three air transports and maybe a heavier fighting vehicle. The cars we have now are sturdy, but their capacity for heavy weapons is limited."

"But you…" Ironwood was still dumbfounded. "How did you even pay for these? It's an order over a few million lien!"

"Six million, two hundred ninety one thousand, two hundred and sixty lien. To be exact. I have been well off for a long time. Additionally, I have seized the finances of several crime syndicates all over Remnant and sold their assets off. My hunters have been well informed… and busy."

Something about the smile on the Hunter's face had changed as he said so. But it was true. Ever since his reappearance, organised crime rates all over the kingdoms had dropped dramatically. Hundreds of known suspects vanished from the face of the earth and several leading figures had announced their retirement. The sudden flash of sharp teeth had something predatory and suggested that no further questions should be asked. Not about the man's methods at least.

"Alright…" Ironwood relented. "I ain't asking about that. However, if you're fitting your men with platforms of that kind, what does that mean for the rest of the world?"

Johannes signed and stamped the papers silently. The bird on the cushion awoke and looked around the room with sleepy eyes. With one sleepy eye. The Hunter sighed dramatically. Ironwood couldn't tell if it was genuine concern or veiled cynicism.

"We have countered a minor incursion in Alasson. I say minor, because I have seen what a major threat is. The… cult that had been rooted there, was young and small, but they were guided, well rather enthralled by a very powerful being. Undoubtedly either a chosen one of a Great One, or a lesser one itself. You must know, General, my… condition makes it very troublesome to kill me."

"I am aware."

"This one, had no trouble to dispatch me when I came face to face with it. I have…"

"Waitwaitwait." Ironwood interjected. "You mean to tell me that this thing killed you?"

The Hunter nodded. "It pulverized my entire head in a single blow."

"And how are we speaking then!?" The General was slightly agitated by now. Not entirely unbelieving, but confused for sure. Johannes smiled his more fatherly kind of a smile.

"Firstly, thank you for not outright assuming I was lying. Secondly, yes, but it is as of now, impossible for me to entirely explain. You see, the only thing harder than killing me, is keeping me dead. Though I wouldn't claim myself to be immortal. That is something I neither know, until the day I thoroughly die at least, nor wish for."

"So it is a curse for you." The General stated.

"It is… difficult for me to decide. Power can be quite addictive. I have not chosen yet, but I have consulted all the legends and scripts I could find. They did not turn out to be overly helpful, but they were interesting. Some religions describe something very similar, much earlier in Remnant's history, but they too aren't concurrent if these individuals described are cursed beings, or blessed with the gifts of gods. But I am sure that they vanished at some point."

The bird hobbled over to Ironwood and fixated him with it's single eye. It seemed to look for something, maybe a snack, maybe it aimed for his eyes. He had heard that carrion crows do tend to eat those first.

"As for Remnant, I can not say. Though I have reference."

"Yharnam." Ironwood said. He had heard the stories from Ozpin. The ashen city in the north. The cursed island nation. Empty and forgotten. Atlesian sea patrols controlled the waters around it, all their captains avoiding it's borders in a manner that could only be described as pedantic, or paranoid. Landing there was not prohibited by law, but the few trying or planning, were thoroughly warned. They also never went far before turning right back around.

"Yes. And this was very much a localized incident. If something like this was to happen on a global scale…"

"Then we will need bigger guns." The General finished the sentence. The Hunter nodded, smiles vanished from his face and a mask of ice taking it's place.

"We need to tell the people. Better sooner than later."

"I concur." Johannes said. "But I have yet to find a way which will neither send the people into a frenzied panic, nor make them dismiss the matter as an urban myth."

"One way or another, they're going to ask who you are."

"Hm." Johannes was silent for a moment, before continuing. "Amusing, if you understand that it doesn't matter in the slightest. But on the flipside, everything hinges on whatever the people are going to be."

* * *

"What's the matter Hans? Too tight around the jewels?"

Hans Kercher tried without success to adjust the lower half of his AICA suit, before turning from his locker towards Mary Decker, who had finished suiting up some time ago. It was rare for everyone to have some downtime between missions and now, a few hours after the cremation of Dimi's remains, seemed as good of a time as any to try out the new equipment they had received from Atlas.

"More the thighs, but yes." He answered, before fingering at the locks of his new suit. He knew that these AICA bodygloves were an essential step up from his cotton uniform, but he still preferred the comfort of simple cloth.

With a hiss of depressurizing air, the suit came off his legs and spread open around them. The thing itself looked much like a black layer of raw muscle, wrapped around the body and interspersed with little ports for the load bearing exoskeleton to interface with. The upper thighs were covered in fabric, much like cargo shorts, as it was probably easier to sew pockets onto those as to attach them to the actual suit. Still, he had to smile a bit, as the whole thing made people look like genuine video game characters, just much more fierce, as these were real.

"Maybe you're getting fat." Decker teased while stretching in her own unit. Kercher had to admit, even though the suit was thick and made everyone seem inhumanly buff, it still fit tight to the wearers body and as such, left much less to the imagination as the old fatigues.

"I might be. Might also be getting old." He huffed as he began reattaching the legs.

"Hm. You look the part. How old are you anyway?" She asked.

"I'm gonna be twenty-seven in April."

"What?" Decker looked at him surprised. "You look like you're going forty soon."

"Thanks a lot, Mary." Kercher grunted as the suit locked in place. He took a few steps in a circle, satisfied with the results. Properly attached, the suit felt a lot like a diving suit. Maybe a bit more loose, but not much.

"Hey, you still look good for a geezer." She chuckled, her eyes quickly glancing over his upper body. Much like herself, he was covered in all kinds of scars. Gunshots, stabs, cuts, shrapnel. A few were fresh, earned during the fight for Haven, along with the blue and blackish marks of bruises by blunt force. They looked painful, but both knew that pain was only temporary. It made no sense to hang on to it. Under all that, he was a testament to human performance. A body trained exactly for one thing: to be more reactive and stronger than his enemy, with a mind inside that had designed itself to be fast and violent.

Most soldiers in Atlas' military came for the glory, for the money and for the social status and respect it brought them. Decker knew. She herself had joined with wide blue eyes, keen to become a hero of the kingdom. It had taken her years to break through this naive dream and accept that she was doing the dirty work for people who earned so much more than her by attending nice banquets, spouting boisterous speeches and living in generous mansions. All that, while she slaved away below deck of Atlas' aircarriers.

But she had read Kercher's dossier. She had researched him and learned all there was to know when Johannes had recruited his first batch. His first generation of hunters. Kercher hadn't come for the glory, or the money. He had come because he hadn't had another place to go. Among all the bigots and racists inside Atlas' society, he had more reason than almost anyone else to hate the Faunus, yet he had never generalized. Even when he was as young as nineteen.

Police records had held all the information Decker could need to figure out what had happened to Kercher's late girlfriend, Catherine Linda Hemsen. All the raw details of her kidnapping, Kercher's ordeal to find her, the day he came stumbling into a frontier ranger station with blood on his hands.

They had raided the camp hours later, found the people inside cooped up in cages like livestock, crippled and defiled for their perceived crimes against Faunuskind. The white fang had done horrible things in their self proclaimed fight for equality and had only damaged the efforts of those who tried to change things in a peaceful manner. And Kercher hated them for both of those reasons.

The records even contained the addendum of Catherine's suicide a few weeks later. She had taken a knife to her wrists, with a letter for her dear Hans. An apology and an attempt at explanation.

Days later he enlisted. He displayed exemplary discipline and skill. In record time, he ate through all available courses, gaining top marks in the process. It didn't take long for him to be thrown into combat against the people he had harboured so much ill will towards.

He excelled at being a soldier, but so much was already expected, but what surprised his superiors was his ability to completely detach his personality in the face of death. The hurting young man stepped back when the shooting started and someone else replaced him, someone cold and calculating. A man who would give his opponents neither mercy nor respite.

His first two years of military service were easily accessible, but later the reports became harder to read. Literally. Some pages seemed to contain more expunged and redacted content than actual readable text. But Decker knew to filter the lack of information and piece together what the man had done during his time in Atlas' special operations units.

When he wasn't being borrowed by the several intelligence agencies, he was part of the "1st Schwere Späheinheit", the heavy recon of Atlas' specialized infantry commands. They were essentially commandos, structured around the traditional Jäger squads of the Great war. Independent and equipped with too much specialized equipment to count, these soldiers would, in a scenario of war, operate behind enemy lines, disrupting supply chains, taking out key enemy positions and wreaking general havoc within the enemy's backyard.

But there was no ground war to fight. Instead, bandits in the countryside, gangsters in the cities, the white fang everywhere and most of all, Grimm.

Decker knew from experience that most of a soldier's service was spent holding off the black tide. Grimm where a literal plague all over the world and it wasn't uncommon for a battle hardened veteran to never have fired a single shot at another person. Those were the one's on the posters, the ones that the papers wrote stories about and Decker held no ill will towards them for it. They were important. They gave people hope and kept spirits high, which was as substantial to holding off the Grimm as a good rifle.

Decker and Kercher were not like them. Their service had not allowed them the peace of mind to keep being a monsterslayer. Instead they became the monsters, the wraiths, the wrathful spirits. Decker had boarded pirate vessels, and assaulted smuggler strongholds. She had put down human traffickers and not to forget about that cursed submarine.

Kercher had done some of the more shady jobs when working in intelligence. Whenever the spooks needed a heavy hand, they formed so called IUs, impromptu units, which always consisted of the best available operatives. These could be field agents from their own staff, or the military kind for more overt activities, or a mixture of both, especially in more time consuming operations.

Ops like the elimination of a high profile crime boss or white fang cells weren't edited too much in the records. What took Decker a lot of time and some contact with her former comrades in the navy intelligence, was a large document labelled "Operation Pigbay", even though it was neither conducted at a bay, nor were there pigs. And even with all this black marker, it was obvious that it hadn't been a security mission for a Mistralian politician visiting Menagerie. Not with so many deaths.

So, Kercher had spent years in the worst shitholes. Almost all eighty percent of his service were consumed by grey scale morality and black operations. It certainly explained his affinity for combat and his ability to make hard hitting decisions, even though the Hunter had yet to lead them into a fight where the sides were unclear.

No one really knew what their commander was expecting to go up against that warranted such a substantial upgrade of their personal protective equipment. Until now, they had been equipped like any other military force on the planet, except black. Now, they were wearing the threads of the future, tailored to make each of them a one man or woman army. But Decker was content with leaving this thought slip into the back of her mind and instead focus on more pressing matters.

Teasing Hans for example.

"Is that just me, or is your hair getting thinner?" She said and chuckled as he immediately whipped towards the nearest mirror where he bowed his head down to see the top. Decker meanwhile had evolved her chuckle into a fully grown laugh, holding on to one of the lockers to support her.

"Mary!" Kercher exclaimed. "You little skank! Don't fuck with me!" He snapped, though the corners of his mouth threatened to form a small smile at her antics.

"It is!" She continued, still laughing. "It has been since we know each other. It's because you never have any fun!"

"Not your kind of fun, yes."

"Well, you could try to get laid once in a while."

He stared.

There he was, a man designed to withstand the most hazardous of environments while still retaining enough momentum to break shit getting in and out, and he was stalling at a tame, sex related remark. He was only half a killer, in a very positive sense. A lot of their peers had failed to retain a certain childlike quality that made them human and while Kercher could be cruelly efficient in battle, when off duty, he sometimes had similarities with a very self conscious teen. In a weird way, it was endearing to Mary, who felt a strange maternal instinct around the slightly older man.

His eyes narrowed at her.

"If you call me a virgin one more time…"

Further he didn't get, as Decker erupted in hysterical laughter, grabbing her sides as she gasped for air. He tugged up the corners of his mouth in his typically wry smile and turned back to his locker, his armor by now fully assembled. It was like he was wearing a second, thick skin. Might as well gear up completely and adjust his other stuff to it.

Wearing a vest over the suit was weird. Normally, the straps and sides would press into his body. Kercher wore his plate carrier tighter than necessary to minimize the wiggling when he moved. With the AICA, he didn't feel the thing at all. Neither the added weight, nor the familiar pressure factored in with his sense of self. It was like he was wearing the suit and nothing else. The helmet on the other hand, was strange in the complete opposite way. With the visor down, which were a pair of glorified ballistic goggles, he was immediately assaulted with a confusing but fascinating torrent of information. The AI analysed terrain, distances to certain points, living organisms, electronic devices and of course, all weapons around him. Well he was standing inside an armory. Fortunately, after the HUD had displayed twenty-five overlapping, identical weapon designations and statuses, it caught up and consolidated the info into a single prompt of "25x M12A4 ATech AR 5.56RMS".

He looked down at the pamphlet on the bench beside him. The HUD read "AICA v.34.2311 BSuit user manual - please read carefully before use".

Pamphlet was honestly an understatement. The issue was thumb thick with very thin pages and almost microscopic font. The whole thing had twenty-three chapters and almost three hundred pages. With most of his past equipment, Kercher only had to skim through the instructions, mostly because he had used a previous model before or the devices had been simple enough, but here, here he feared that he had to read through the whole fucking thing. It would be time consuming, boring and impossible to remember everything the first time, so he would need to keep reading it over and over again.

Start tutorial now? This might take up to 70 minutes.

YES/NO

"No." Kercher said.

Are you sure you want to skip the tutorial? Completion of the tutorial is advised before using the ATech AICA suit and accessories.

YES/NO

"Yes."

Kercher looked at Decker, who was sitting on a bench, trying to suppress another laughing fit.

"How do I turn all of this off?" He asked while unlocking the helmet's visor and pushing it up to the top of his head.

"The tutorial covers this." Decker answered.

"I just skipped it."

"It'll come back in a few moments."

"It didn't say so."

She chuckled. "The suit assumes you're stupid, so it'll tell you one thing and do another."

"That sounds dangerous."

"It is. That's why the thing lets you customize everything in the tutorial."

He sighed, before flipping the visor back down. True to Decker's words, the same question popped back up on his HUD. He huffed a gruff 'Yes.' Before sitting down and trying not to be too angry that he had to sit through the mind numbing process of setting up his clothes.

To his surprise, ten minutes in, he realised how interesting the whole software and the correlating hardware was. The interface was intuitive and precise and when he learned how to use gestures and movement of his mouth and eyes to navigate the programs, he caught himself having simple, innocent fun. It was like playing with a new toy. One with hundreds of functions and useful applications. It took him some time until he had warmed up to the neon green writing in his field of vision. In a way, it felt like the inside of a fighter pilot's helmet. He was amazed when the AI instantly recognized make and model when he took a pistol in his hand. It even recognized that it was empty. Truly astonishing.

"Hey, Hans!" He looked up and around the room. Decker was nowhere to be found. Only her disembodied voice.

"Up here." He looked up.

Decker was kneeling on the ceiling. One hand sticking to the metal plate that closed the ventilation system, while both of her feet were lying against a metal bar that ran along the length of the room.

"What are you doing up there?"

"Hanging out." She said, grinning while Kercher winced at the painful pun. "The hands and feet have electromagnets."

Kercher, though still disgusted by her play on words, felt his mind running. Dozens of possible applications for them to hang onto metal surfaces like a snail. Fighting tanks and mechs up close would bear much less risk now. Add to that that the suit supposedly amplified their strength by several factors, he couldn't wait to rip the hatch off an APC.

Well maybe that would be too much, but planting a magnetic charge should be doable.

* * *

Kercher yawned and sat up in his cot. It would still take him some time to warm up to their quarters. Apparently, the boss had a problem with all of them bunking in the same room, so he had contracted a crafty crew of construction workers to segregate the sleeping hall into many little… dorm rooms of sort. All of them were a tiny bit different, but all held the same basic furniture. A bunk, two chairs, a table and a mirror. There were barely fifty centimetres between each object in his room and while he managed by now to avoid crushing his toes everytime he navigated his "home", he still had a fair amount of bruises on his hip. Most of them courtesy of the narrow table that he had. He had been surprised how sturdy the little walls were. Not the expected cheap cardboard, but bricks and mortar. Some had even hung up pictures. Kercher had barren walls.

His service pistol, his bunched up working clothes and a stack of books were all that signalled his occupancy of the small room. Well, and a small nameplate with his name on the door and the way that his second chair was arranged. Sometimes, the room was also an office and he greeted other hunters here. Those who sought guidance and some uplifting. He would sit, drink with them, smoke a cigarette and listen to their fears, sorrows, even minor inconveniences. Sometimes he gave advice, sometimes reassurance. One time he had dragged another hunter behind the door, slammed his head into the table and yelled at him to stop "howling the fucking Mistralian anthem at three in the morning." Obviously, he was well respected as an officer in Johannes troop. They trusted him and confined in him. And they also knew to not disturb his night's rest.

His alarm clock just had done that. It was four in the morning.

With effort rivaling a Vytal weightlifting champion, he straightened his legs and hoisted himself up, searching for his clothes in the dark. He then remembered that he hadn't showered yesterday and that he would meet a general today. So he needed something better to put on than his overalls and he needed a bit of soap and water.

Throwing a towel over his shoulder, he wandered out into the hallway. It was cold. No heating and the floor was tiled with marble, but he was unperturbed. The cold didn't bother him, the heat did. Then he smelled something and he stopped.

There was a scent in the air, pleasant and subtle, but completely foreign. It smelled of mint and fresh snow… if snow ever smelled of anything, but the comparison was valid. Someone had come through here and whoever it was, was a stranger.

Ten steps back into his room, he held his gun. His fingers slid over the slide and half racked it, confirming the round in the chamber. Silently, he cocked the hammer, holding it in front of himself, still in his boxers, a towel over his shoulder. He creeped forward, careful to avoid the telltale patter of naked feet on the ground. He came to a corner and stopped, peeked and continued. The scent became stronger. Spearmint, definitely. Weird.

He rounded another corner and immediately stopped. Something had moved, he had seen the shadow. He raised his pistol, finger on the trigger and moved forward, slowly, until he stood at an open door. He glanced at the label next to the frame: "Guestroom". Then it it clicked behind him. A metallic noise. Oh, how he hated this shit.

"Curious, hunter?" The voice was female, young and cultured. He raised his arms, taking great care to show her the left side of his gun, where the safety lever was located. He pressed it down and the hammer clicked back.

"I'm going to turn around." He announced and when he heard no objections, he did so.

This was not the first time he was being held at gunpoint. Using the USPs safety lever to decock his weapon had fooled everyone before. People tended to forget that a pistol could be double action. Decocking the hammer didn't mean the gun was unloaded.

He caught himself half turn. The general was here. Of course there were guests in the building and of course, they could wake up as early as they wanted. He had never killed anyone who he wasn't meant to kill and he wouldn't want this streak to end because of a simple misunderstanding.

"I'm sorry miss. I'm rather safe than sorry."

His eyes fell on the muzzle of a silver subcompact handgun, a moment later, it vanished, fell to her side. He looked at her, up and down, once. That was all he needed.

She was the older version of Weiss Schnee in almost every way and she wore the uniform of an Atlas specialist. He might've been right. She was probably part of the general's entourage. A lock of white hair lightly sat on her left shoulder. Suddenly he was very aware of his own attire, or rather his lack thereof. Her single raised eyebrow didn't help his self consciousness.

"I saw you before." She said. She waited for him to lower his own weapon, regarding him with a critical look as he did.

"You look shorter without the uniform."

He regarded her with a look of his own. From where he stood, he had to look down at her at an angle.

"Specialist." He finally said, nodding his head. He had an appointment. Small talk had never been his forté.

"Mr. Ironwood will not be up for at least an hour." She said as if reading his mind. "It is five past four. Are you planning on sitting around for an hour."

He hesitated, then said no. She smiled.

"Then make yourself presentable. I will wait here." She passed by him and entered the guest room. He didn't look at her as she closed the door, but he was sure she was watching him and he was unsure how he felt about that.

Kercher didn't own a dress uniform, only two sets of civilian clothes, his overall and of course his combat gear. He was guessing that he could either wear the new AICA, or his suit if it still fitted. After his shower he decided for the latter. He didn't necessarily need to be combat ready for an official meeting like this.

Looking into the mirror, he had trouble recognizing himself. He had worn the Atlesian uniform for much longer than the hunter's black, but the last time he had been in civvie attire, it must've been during one of his less reputable gigs. Ironic how much worse his jobs had been when he was out of uniform, compared to when he had been in full kit. But the suit still fitted him well. Light grey with a white shirt and black tie. He had worn it in Menagerie, this clusterfuck of an operation that he had barely survived. How many of them had actually been with the white fang and how many had been local militia he didn't know. He would never know, but he had chosen not to ask.

"Ma'am?" Kercher said as he entered. Compared to his own quarters, the guest rooms were lavish, luxurious. He suspected that the Hunter had simply renovated some of the old hotel rooms. Not the suites upstairs, those had been made into an armoury and a situation room, but the normal rooms.

"I heard only good things about you." She said. Winter Schnee sat, legs crossed, in a couch chair with all the grace that her standing and family dictated.

"Well, you have access to all the reports, so we both know that's a lie." He answered. She chuckled. A light, pleasant noise. She gestured at another chair and he sat down, loosening his tie slightly. It was unfamiliar, uncomfortable even.

"The general wants to talk to you about this operation." She pointed at the ground and at him.

"About what?" His tone was clinical, professional.

"Well…" She shifted in her seat. "Mr. uhm, Johannes shows up from nothing, speaks to headmaster Ozpin like he's an old friend, then he suddenly has an army of mercenaries at his beck and call and a coastal village blows up. Professor Ozpin seems to trust the Good Hunter unconditionally and the council is scared out of their minds. The general is apparently the only one who sees this critically."

She narrowed her eyes at him and he smiled lightly.

"Anything you wish to say?"

"Hm." He stared into nothing for a short while.

"Just trying to formulate it properly. I am guessing that you have been at our heels for some time?"

She nodded.

"So, you know about the incident at Alasson?"

"You're talking about your skirmish there?"

Now he nodded.

"I prefer to call it a massacre. Nothing strange about it?"

She paused.

"I have seen disasters like this before. Just causes that led to many innocents dead."

"Oh, innocents have died. The whole town full. But when we arrived, they were already dead."

She cocked her head to the side. "How is that to be understood?"

"The men and women in Alasson, were not human anymore. The children were already dead, on the bottom of the harbour. What little was left of their sanity, they used to attack us. So we killed them."

He sat back, hands on his thighs. It was subtle, but Winter saw him clenching his jaw, like men do when they think of the things they had rather not done.

"All of them." He continued. "We went from house to house, combed through every basement and cellar and we killed. There was only a platoon of us, but until we reached the harbour, it was more than enough."

Winter sat forward, uncrossing her legs to sit more comfortably. "What was there at the harbour Mr. Kercher?"

He smiled. A twisted, almost malformed smile that showed more teeth than it should. His eyes they had a sheen to it, something far deeper below the surface than Winter was willing to look. She had seen the eyes of soldiers, of these soldiers. Dead men walking, their minds ruptured beyond repair and yet, they seemed still human, still compassionate and possibly, even kind. Kerchers eyes were unlike them. They were empty.

"Mr. Johannes, our commander, he called it a beast. But he tends to understate. I can not rightly describe it, but it might have been some kind of…" He tapped his fingers. "Some kind of serpent. Had something of an angler fish too. There might've been crab in there too, well, if you taped eight scissor blades to its legs and arms."

Winter recoiled slightly in response, struggling to imagine something so strange. "And how does this fit into the destruction of the harbour?"

"Well, it was large. Incredibly large. It was so large that I couldn't see it completely. I either saw the base of its body, or the head and what was below and I don't even know how much of it was underwater."

"Please. Not even-"

"Johannes, the Hunter… the first Hunter, he engaged it. He was decapitated by a damn backhand slap and moments later, he was bursting through a doorway again. He killed everything that came before him. Even the great serpent. Just like that."

She had stared at him and he leaned forward, meeting her gaze.

"If you ask me, the headmaster has every reason to trust the Good Hunter and the council has every reason to fear him."

"Why is that?"

"Because the Good Hunter is not happy with the council's politics and Ozpin sees in him a source of great power. And in the end, power is what the headmaster is revelling in. And fear is what the council is founded on."

"You think that your Good Hunter is the solution to this?"

He regarded her with a long and deep look. For a moment she feared to have insulted him by speaking of his chief in such a way, but his gaze softened.

"I don't think, or believe… I know that Johannes has seen, survived and overcome indescribable horrors. Things that we wouldn't be able to think of. You know… he sometimes tells stories, of strange worlds or mysteries. I think I even took up some manners of speech from him."

"It seems so." She grinned at him.

"Anyway. Once he told us the story of the end of the world. Well… the end of a world."

"Literally?" Winter wouldn't admit it openly, but the man was entertaining, in a somber kind of way.

"I don't know. He also said that the texts were confusing, but the part that stuck with me the most was the tale of the riders."

"I'm intrigued."

"Four riders, come to bring chaos to the world, so that its inhabitants could prove themselves and could be judged by their god."

She leaned back again, a freshly poured glass of apple juice in her hand.

"One came on a white horse and was given a bow and arrow and he set out to claim victory. One came on a red horse and he was sent to take peace from the world. The third came on a black horse and he was given a scale, to be judge and jury."

Both looked past another. Lost in thought.

"And then I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death."

He did not meet her gaze. Her eyes searched without result for an answer to the cryptic tale. It sounded very old, primordial even, yet the prophecy in it seemed unfulfilled. Looming over whoever told and listened. But she was sure he was connecting it to the Good Hunter himself. She wondered who he was in this story.

But a look at her watch told her that it was time. Both of them were expected. And Kercher concurred when she informed him. Yet he sat a moment longer, muttering something that she did not hear and she did not ask.

"And hell followed with him."


End file.
